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Karl Marx
T H E AMERICAN QUESTION IN ENGLAND
3*
Karl Marx
What The Economist and The Examiner had to ask was not only
why the Crittenden 1 2 and other compromise measures were
proposed in Congress, but why they were not passed? They affect to
consider those compromise proposals as accepted by the North
and rejected by the South, while, in point of fact, they were
baffled by the Northern party, that had carried the Lincoln
election. Proposals never matured into resolutions, but always
remaining in the embryo state of pia desideria? the South had of
course never any occasion either of rejecting or acquiescing in. We
come nearer to the pith of the question by the following remark of
The Examiner:
"Mrs. Stowe says: 'The Slave party, finding they could no longer use the Union
for their purposes, resolved to destroy it.' There is here an admission that up to
that time the Slave party had used the Union for their purposes, and it would have
been well if Mrs. Stowe could have distincdy shown where it was that the North
began to make its stand against Slavery."
One might suppose that The Examiner and the other oracles of
public opinion in England had made themselves sufficiently
familiar with the contemporaneous history to not need Mrs.
Stowe's information on such all-important points. T h e progressive
abuse of the Union by the slave power, working through its
alliance with the Northern Democratic party, 13 is, so to say, the
general formula of the United States history since the beginning
of this century. T h e successive compromise measures mark the
successive degrees of the encroachment by which the Union
became more and more transformed into the slave of the
slave-owner. Each of these compromises denotes a new encroachment of the South, a new concession of the North. At the same
time none of the successive victories of the South was carried but
after a hot contest with an antagonistic force in the North,
appearing under different party names with different watchwords
and under different colors. If the positive and final result of each
single contest told in favor of the South, the attentive observer of
history could not but see that every new advance of the slave
a
10
Karl Marx
power was a step forward to its ultimate defeat. Even at the times
of the Missouri Compromise the contending forces were so evenly
balanced that Jefferson, as we see from his memoirs, 3 apprehended
the Union to be in danger of splitting on that deadly antagonism. 14
T h e encroachments of the slaveholding power reached their
maximum point, when, by the Kansas-Nebraska bill,15 for the first
time in the history of the United States, as Mr. Douglas himself
confessed, every legal barrier to the diffusion of Slavery within the
United States territories was broken down, when, afterward, a
Northern candidate bought his Presidential nomination by pledging the Union to conquer or purchase in Cuba a new field of
dominion for the slaveholder 16 ; when, later on, by the Dred Scott
decision, 17 diffusion of Slavery by the Federal power was
proclaimed as the law of the American Constitution, and lastly,
when the African slave-trade was de facto reopened on a larger
scale than during the times of its legal existence. But, concurrently
with this climax of Southern encroachments, carried by the
connivance of the Northern Democratic party, there were unmistakable signs of Northern antagonistic agencies having gathered
such strength as must soon turn the balance of power. The Kansas
war, 18 the formation of the Republican party, and the large vote
cast for Mr. Fremont during the Presidential election of 1856,19
were so many palpable proofs that the North had accumulated
sufficient energies to rectify the aberrations which United States
history, under the slaveowners' pressure, had undergone, for half
a century, and to make it return to the true principles of its
development. Apart from those political phenomena, there was
one broad statistical and economical fact indicating that the abuse
of the Federal Union by the slave interest had approached the
point from which it would have to recede forcibly, or de bonne
graced That fact was the growth of the North-West, the immense
strides its population had made from 1850 to 1860, and the new
and reinvigorating influence it could not but bear on the destinies
of the United States.
Now, was all this a secret chapter of history? Was "the
admission" of Mrs. Beecher Stowe wanted to reveal to The
Examiner and the other political illuminati 20 of the London press
the carefully hidden truth that "up to that time the Slave party
had used the Union for their purposes?" Is it the fault of the
a
Th. Jefferson, Memoirs, Correspondence, and Private Papers..., Vol. IV, London,
1829, p. 333. Ed.
b
Of its own accord. Ed.
11
12
Karl Marx
13
"It is true enough that it was the aim of the Republican party which elected Mr.
Lincoln to prevent Slavery from spreading into the unsettled Territories.... It may
be true that the success of the North, if complete and unconditional, would enable
them to confine Slavery within the fifteen States which have already adopted it,
and might thus lead to its eventual extinctionthough this is rather probable than
certain."
14
Karl Marx
15
but even The Examiner ought to know that the present rebellion
did not wait upon the passing of the Morrill tariff for breaking
out. In point of fact, the Southerners could not have been tired of
being robbed of the fruits of their slave labor by the Protective
tariff of the North, considering that from 1846-1861 a Free-Trade
tariff had obtained.
The Spectator characterizes in its last number the secret thought
of some of the Anti-Northern organs in the following striking
manner:
"What, then, do the Anti-Northern organs really profess to think desirable, under the justification of this plea of deferring to the inexorable logic of
facts?" They argue that disunion is desirable, just because, as we have said, it is the
only possible step to a conclusion of this "causeless and fratricidal strife;" and next,
of course, only as an afterthought, and as an humble apology for Providence and
"justification of the ways of God to man," now that the inevitable necessity stands
revealedfor further reasons discovered as beautiful adaptations to the moral
exigencies of the country, when once the issue is discerned. It is discovered that it
will be very much for the advantage of the States to be dissolved into rival groups.
They will mutually check each other's ambition; they will neutralize each other's
power, and if ever England should get into a dispute with one or more of them,
more jealousy will bring the antagonistic groups to our aid. This will be, it is urged,
a very wholesome state of things, for it will relieve us from anxiety and it will
encourage political 'competition,' that great safeguard of honesty and purity,
among the States themselves.
"Such is the casevery gravely urgedof the numerous class of Southern
sympathizers now springing up among us. Translated into Englishand we grieve
that an English argument on such a subject should be of a nature that requires
translatingit means that we deplore the present great scale of this "fratricidal"
war, because it may concentrate in one fearful spasm a series of chronic petty wars
and passions and jealousies among groups of rival States in times to come. The real
truth is, and this very un-English feeling distinctly discerns this truth, though it
cloaks it in decent phrases, that rival groups of American States could not live
together in peace or harmony. The chronic condition would be one of malignant
hostility rising out of the very causes which have produced the present contest. It is
asserted that the different groups of States have different tariff interests. These
different tariff interests would be the sources of constant petty wars if the States
were once dissolved, and Slavery, the root of all the strife, would be the spring of
innumerable animosities, discords and campaigns. No stable equilibrium could ever
again be established among the rival States. And yet it is maintained that this long
future of incessant strife is the providential solution of the great question now at
issuethe only real reason why it is looked upon favorably being this, that whereas
the present great-scale conflict may issue in a restored and stronger political unity,
the alternative of infinitely multiplied small-scale quarrels will issue in a weak and
divided continent, that England cannot fear.
"Now we do not deny that the Americans themselves sowed the seeds of this
petty and contemptible state of feeling by the unfriendly and bullying attitude they
have so often manifested to England, but we do say that the state of feeling on our
part is petty and contemptible. We see that in a deferred issue there is no hope of
a deep and enduring tranquillity for America, that it means a decline and fall of
the American nation into quarrelsome clans and tribes, and yet we hold u p our
16
Karl Marx
hands in horror at the present^ "fratricidal" strife because it holds out hopes of
finality. We exhort them to look favorably on the indefinite future of small strifes,
equally fratricidal and probably far more demoralizing, because the latter would
draw out of our side the thorn of American rivalry."
Written on September 18, 1861
First published in the New-York Daily
Tribune, No. 6403, October 11, 1861,
reprinted in the New-York Semi-Weekly
Tribune, No. 1710, October 15, 1861
Reproduced from
Daily Tribune
the
New-York
17
Karl Marx
T H E BRITISH C O T T O N TRADE
a
" T h e Probable Continuance of the American Conflict",
No. 941, September 7, 1861. Ed.
The Economist,
18
Karl Marx
19
Cost of
spinning
per lb
6 A^d.
10V4d.
Profit, Id. per lb.
4d.
3d.
9d.
11
Loss, 1 Vgd. per lb.
2d.
3 x / 2 d.
Per lb.
X
20
Karl Marx
the English working class. This pivot was swept away by the potato
disease and the subsequent Irish catastrophe. 27 A larger basis for
the reproduction and maintenance of the toiling millions had then
to be adopted. T h e second pivot of English industry was the
slave-grown cotton of the United States. The present American
crisis forces them to enlarge their field of supply and emancipate
cotton from slave-breeding and slave-consuming oligarchies. As
long as the English cotton manufactures depended on slave-grown
cotton, it could be truthfully asserted that they rested on a twofold
slavery, the indirect slavery of the white man in England and the
direct slavery of the black men on the other side of the Atlantic.
Written on September 21, 1861
First published in the New-York Daily
Tribune, No. 6405, October 14, 1861
21
Karl Marx
T H E LONDON TIMES
41134
22
Karl Marx
23
a
A. M. Dunlop's speech in the House of Commons on March 19, 1861, The
Times, No. 23885, March 20, 1861. Ed.
b
R. Montagu's speech in the House of Commons on June 18, 1861, The Times,
No. 23963, June 19, 1861. Ed.
4*
24
Karl Marx
"We are at last enjoying...", The Times, No. 23963, June 19, 1861. Ed.
J. P. Hennessy's speech in the House of Commons on July 2, 1861, The Times,
No. 23975, July 3, 1861. Ed.
c
" T h e time is now approaching...", The Times, No. 24056, October 5, 1861.
Ed.
b
25
a
"English Feeling towards America", The Economist, No. 944, September 28,
1861. Ed.
b
Thus far from the article. "English Feeling towards America.". Ed.
26
Karl Marx
All I intended to show for the present was that Palmerston, and
consequently the London press, working to his orders, is
abandoning his hostile attitude against the United States. T h e
causes that have led to this revirement? as the French call it, I shall
try to explain in a subsequent letter. Before concluding, I may still
add that Mr. Forster, M.P. for Bradford, delivered last Tuesday, 0 in
the theater of Bradford Mechanics' Institute, 36 a lecture "On the
Civil War in America," in which he traced the true origin and
character of that war, and victoriously refuted the misstatements of
the Palmerstonian press. e
Written on October 5, 1861
a
"The Last Movements of the Northern and the Southern Confederation", The
Economist, No. 943, September 21, 1861.Ed.
b
"English Feeling towards America". Ed.
c
Radical change. Ed.
d
October 1, 1861. Ed.
e
W. E. Forster's lecture "On the Civil War in America" was reported in The Times,
No. 24054, October 3, 1861. Ed.
27
Karl Marx
T H E LONDON TIMES ON T H E ORLEANS PRINCES
IN AMERICA
William I. Ed.
Marx refers to the following leading articles: "The popularity of a
Government...", The Times, No. 24057, October 7, 1861; "The King of Prussia is
welcomed to Compiegne...", The Times, No. 24058, October 8, 1861; "It is, perhaps, a
mistake to attribute...", The Times, No. 24059, October 9, 1861. Ed.
c
"Paris, Thursday, Oct. 10, 7 A. M.", The Times, No. 24061, October 11,
1861. Ed.
d
Napoleon III. Ed.
e
"We trust we have now heard...", The Times, No. 23928, May 9, 1861, leading
article. Ed.
b
28
Karl Marx
nothing to hope from England, and that the, next best thing she
could do would be to come to some understanding with France. 3
When at last the weak and trimming monarch of Prussia resolved
upon the visit at Compiegne, The Times could proudly exclaim:
"quorum magna pars fui; " b but now the time had also arrived for
obliterating from the memory of the British the fact that The
Times had been the pathfinder of the Prussian monarch. Hence
the roar of its theatrical thunders. Hence the counter roars of the
Pays, Journal de l'Empire.
The Times had now recovered its position of the deadly
antagonist of Bonapartism, and, therefore, the power of lending
its aid to the Man of December. An occasion soon offered. Louis
Bonaparte is, of course, most touchy whenever the renown of rival
pretenders to the French crown is concerned. He had covered
himself with ridicule in the affair of the Duke d'Aumale's
pamphlet 4 0 against Pion Plon, c and, by his proceedings, had done
more in furtherance of the Orleanist cause than all the Orleanist
partisans combined. Again, in these latter days, the French people
were called upon to draw a parallel between Pion Pion and the
Orleans princes. d When Pion Pion set out for America, there were
caricatures circulated in the Faubourg St. Antoine representing
him as a fat man in search of a crown, but professing at the same
time to be a most inoffensive traveler, with a peculiar aversion to
the smell of powder. While Pion Pion is returning to France with
no more laurels than he gathered in the Crimea and in Italy, the
Princes of Orleans cross the Atlantic to take service in the ranks of
the National army. Hence a great stir in the Bonaprtist camp. It
would not do to give vent to Bonapartist anger through the venal
press of Paris. T h e Imperialist fears would thus only be betrayed,
the pamphlet scandal renewed, and odious comparisons provoked
between exiled Princes who fight under the republican banner
against the enslavers of working millions, with another exiled
Prince, who had himself sworn in as an English special constable
to share in the glory of putting down an English workingmen's
movement. 41
a
" T h e tone in which the outrage on Captain Macdonald...", The Times,
No. 23926, May 7, 1861, leading article; "We trust we have now heard...", The
Times, No. 23928, May 9, 1861, leading article. Ed.
b
"Much of the credit for this belongs to me", Virgil, Aeneid, II, 6. Ed.
c
Joseph Charles Paul Bonaparte, Prince Napolon. Ed.
d
Franois Ferdinand Philippe Louis Marie d'Orlans, Prince de Joinville;
Robert Philippe Louis Eugne Ferdinand d'Orlans, duc de Chartres; Louis Philippe
Albert d'Orlans, comte de Paris. Ed.
29
30
Karl Marx
31
Pie ?hr#. S
BiiMJI
. Karl Marx
T H E N O R T H AMERICAN CIVIL WAR 45
33
34
Karl Marx
35
indeed only in defence of the Union that the North drew the
sword, had not the South already declared that the continuance of
slavery was no longer compatible with the continuance of the
Union?
Just as the bombardment of Fort Sumter gave the signal for the
opening of the war, the election victory of the Republican Party of
the North, the election of Lincoln as President, gave the signal for
secession. On November 6, 1860, Lincoln was elected. On
November 8, 1860, a message telegraphed from South Carolina
said: "Secession is regarded here as a settled thing" 3 ; on November 10 the legislature of Georgia occupied itself with secession
plans, and on November 13 a special session of the legislature
of Mississippi was convened to consider secession. But Lincoln's
election was itself only the result of a split in the Democratic camp.
During the election struggle the Democrats of the North
concentrated their votes on Douglas, the Democrats of the South
concentrated their votes on Breckinridge, and to this splitting of
the Democratic votes the Republican Party owed its victory.
Whence came, on the one hand, the preponderance of the
Republican Party in the North? Whence, on the other, the disunion
within the Democratic Party, whose members, North and South,
had operated in conjunction for more than half a century?
Under the presidency of Buchanan the sway that the South had
gradually usurped over the Union through its alliance with the
Northern Democrats attained its zenith. T h e last Continental
Congress of 1787 and the first Constitutional Congress of 1789-90
had legally excluded slavery from all Territories of the republic
northwest of the Ohio. b (Territories, as is known, is the name
given to the colonies lying within the United States itself which
have not yet attained the level of population constitutionally
prescribed for the formation of autonomous states.51) T h e
so-called Missouri Compromise (1820), in consequence of which
Missouri became one of the States of the Union as a slave state,
excluded slavery from every remaining Territory north of 3630'
latitude and west of the Missouri. 52 By this compromise the area of
slavery was advanced several degrees of longitude, whilst, on the
other hand, a geographical boundary-line to its future spread
a
Quoted in the report "Columbia, S. C. Thursday, Nov. 8, 1860", New-York Daily
Tribune, No. 6098, November 9, I860. Ed.
b
An Ordinance for the government of the territory of the United States, north-west of the
River Ohio, adopted by the 1787 Congress, and An Act to provide for the government of the
territory north-west of the River Ohio, adopted by the 1789-90 Congress. Ed.
36
Karl Marx
37
51134
38
Karl Marx
39
5*
40
Karl Marx
lands and that a new market for slave-raising, therefore for the
sale of slaves, may be created for the remaining section. It is, for
example, indubitable that without the acquisition of Louisiana,
Missouri and Arkansas by the United States, slavery in Virginia
and Maryland would have become extinct long ago. In the
Secessionist Congress at Montgomery, Senator Toombs, one of the
spokesmen of the South, strikingly formulated the economic law
that commands the constant expansion of the territory of slavery.
"In fifteen years," said he, "without a great increase in slave territory, either
the slaves must be permitted to flee from the whites, or the whites must flee from
the slaves."
41
42
Karl Marx
43
Karl Marx
T H E CIVIL WAR IN T H E UNITED STATES 6 1
"Let him go, he is not worth your anger!" 3 Again and again
English statesmanship criesrecently through the mouth of Lord
John Russell b to the North of the United States this advice of
Leporello to Don Juan's deserted love. If the North lets the South
go, it then frees itself from any association with slavery, from its
historical original sin, and creates the basis of a new and higher
development.
In reality, if North and South formed two independent
countries, like, for example, England and Hanover, their separation would be no more difficult than was the separation of
England and Hanover. 62 "The South", however, is neither a
territory closely sealed off from the North geographically, nor a
moral unity. It is not a country at all, but a battle slogan.
T h e advice of an amicable separation presupposes that the
Southern Confederacy, although it assumed the offensive in the
Civil War, at least wages it for defensive purposes. It is believed
that the issue for the slaveholders' party is merely one of uniting
the territories it has hitherto dominated into an independent
group of states and withdrawing them from the supreme authority
of the Union. Nothing could be more false. " The South needs its
entire territory. It will and must have it." With this battle-cry the
secessionists fell upon Kentucky. By their "entire territory" they
a
44
Karl Marx
Marx gives the English words "border states" in parenthesis after their
German equivalent. Ed.
b
Marx uses the English names: "Cumberland Range" and "Blue Mountains". Ed.
45
46
Karl Marx
new state, and under the banner of the Union now defends its
territory arms in hand against the Southern invaders.
Tennessee, with 1,109,847 inhabitants, 275,784 of whom are
slaves, finds itself in the hands of the Southern Confederacy,
which has placed the whole state under martial law and under a
system of proscription which recalls the days of the Roman
Triumvirates. When in the winter of 1861 the slaveholders
proposed a general convention of the people which was to vote for
secession or non-secession, the majority of the people rejected any
convention, in order to remove any pretext for the secession
movement. Later, when Tennessee was already militarily overrun
and subjected to a system of terror by the Southern Confederacy,
more than a third of the voters at the elections still declared
themselves for the Union. Here, as in most of the border states,
the mountainous country, east Tennessee, forms the real centre of
resistance to the slaveholders' party. On June 17, 1861, a General
Convention of the people of east Tennessee assembled in
Greeneville, declared itself for the Union, deputed the former
governor of the state, Andrew Johnson, one of the most ardent
Unionists, to the Senate in Washington and published a "declaration of grievances", 3 which lays bare all the means of deception,
intrigue and terror by which Tennessee was "voted out" of the
Union. b Since then the secessionists have held east Tennessee in
check by force of arms.
Similar relationships to those in West Virginia and east
Tennessee are found in the north of Alabama, in northwest
Georgia and in the north of North Carolina.
Further west, in the border state of Missouri, with 1,173,317
inhabitants and 114,965 slavesthe latter mostly concentrated in
the northwest of the statethe people's convention of August
1861 decided for the Union. c Jackson, the governor of the state
and the tool of the slaveholders' party, rebelled against the
legislature of Missouri, was outlawed and took the lead of the
armed hordes that fell upon Missouri from Texas, Arkansas and
Tennessee, in order to bring it to its knees before the Confederacy
and sever its bond with the Union by the sword. Next to Virginia,
Missouri is at the present moment the main theatre of the Civil
War.
a
Marx uses the English expression and gives the German equivalent. Ed.
T h e resolutions of the Convention were reported by the New-York Daily
Tribune, No. 6308, July 4, 1861, in the item "The Knoxville (Tenn.) Whig...".
Ed.
c
The convention actually adopted this decision on March 9, 1861. Ed.
b
47
48
Karl Marx
Joint Resolution for annexing Texas to the United States [1845]. Ed.
Constitution of the Confederate States of America (New-York Daily
No. 6206, March 16, 1861). Ed.
b
Tribune,
49
Reported in the New-York Daily Tribune, No. 6217, March 29, 1861. Ed.
50
Karl Marx
the Mississippi from the hands of the strong, hostile slave republic
in the South, the great agricultural states in the basin between the
Rocky Mountains and the Alleghenies, in the valleys of the
Mississippi, the Missouri and the Ohio, would be compelled by
their economic interests to secede from the North and enter the
Southern Confederacy. These northwestern states,65 in their turn,
would draw after them into the same whirlpool of secession all the
Northern states lying further east, with perhaps the exception of
the states of New England. 66
What would in fact take place would be not a dissolution of the
Union, but a reorganisation of it, a reorganisation on the basis of
slavery, under the recognised control of the slaveholding oligarchy.
T h e plan of such a reorganisation has been openly proclaimed by
the principal speakers of the South at the Congress of Montgomery and explains the paragraph of the new Constitution which
leaves it open to every state of the old Union to join the new
Confederacy. T h e slave system would infect the whole Union. In
the Northern states, where Negro slavery is in practice impossible,
the white working class would gradually be forced down to
the level of helotry. 67 This would fully accord with the loudly
proclaimed principle that only certain races are capable of
freedom, and as the actual labour is the lot of the Negro in the
South, so in the North it is the lot of the German and the
Irishman, or their direct descendants.
T h e present struggle between the South and North is, therefore,
nothing but a struggle between two social systems, the system of
slavery and the system of free labour. The struggle has broken out
because the two systems can no longer live peacefully side by side
on the North American continent. It can only be ended by the
victory of one system or the other.
If the border states, the disputed areas in which the two systems
have hitherto contended for domination, are a thorn in the flesh
of the South, there can, on the other hand, be no mistake that, in
the course of the war up to now, they have constituted the chief
weakness of the North. One section of the slaveholders in these
districts simulated loyalty to the North at the bidding of the
conspirators in the South; another section found that in fact it was
in accordance with their real interests and traditional ideas to go
with the Union. The two sections have equally crippled the North.
Anxiety to keep the "loyal" slaveholders of the border states in
good humour; fear of throwing them into the arms of secession,
in a word, tender regard for the interests, prejudices and
sensibilities of these ambiguous allies, has smitten the Union
51
a
In a letter to Fremont of September 11, 1861, (New-York Daily Tribune,
No. 6380, September 15, 1861). Ed.
b
Cass's statement was quoted in a leading article in the New-York Daily Tribune,
No. 6381, September 16, 1861. Ed.
c
Marx presumably quotes from the leading article in the New-York Daily
Tribune, No. 6401, October 9, 1861, which contains this passage from the article in
Brownson's Quarterly Review.Ed.
52
Karl Marx
"On the day when it shall be decided that either slavery or the Union must go
down, on that day sentence of death is passed on slavery. If the North cannot
triumph without emancipation, it will triumph with emancipation."
Written about October 20, 1861
First published in Die Presse, No. 306,
November 7, 1861
53
Karl Marx
T H E CRISIS IN ENGLAND 7 0
61134
54
Karl Marx
T h e Crisis in England
55
56
Karl Marx
57
Karl Marx
BRITISH COMMERCE
98,037,311
101,724,346
93,795,332 a
78,060
144,556
2,753,782
448,661
1860.
76,843
156,665
2,776,472
518,778
1861.
25,642
200,244
1,130,973
191,606
a
Here and below the tables are quoted from " T h e Board of Trade Returns", The
Economist, No. 949, November 2, 1861. Ed.
58
Karl Marx
1,204,085
1,486,276
865,066
205,947
642,822
744,505
16,489
357,162
372,465
99,422
53,451
935,692
122,570
63,876
1,083,438
1,337,778
776,772
165,052
546,493
665,619
17,056
378,842
457,490
44,971
66,015
833,644
72,915
84,818
542,312
493,654
446,095
79,086
148,587
168,657
9,239
125,752
216,246
10,005
1,451
274,488
1,680
59,809
197,605
129,557
439,584
53,173
586,701
102,393
93,227
399,153
56,423
535,130
88,360
22,984
142,311
12,430
250,023
1,732,224
1,052,053
1,612,284
840,507
652,399
377,597
15,785,784 13,698,778 74
5,671,730
Canada. Ed.
The figures here and below are quoted from the Accounts relating to Trade
and Navigation for the Nine Months ended September 30, 1861 (The Economist, No. 949,
November 2, 1861). Ed.
b
British Commerce
59
88,993,762
106,894,278
114,588,107
1859
1860
1861
Cwts/
Value.
8,023,082
10,616,347
9,616,087
24,039,197
28,940,676
30,809,279
T h e figures in this column are given for the period of nine months. Ed.
See this volume, pp. 17-20. Ed.
60
Karl Marx
British Commerce
61
Apart from its own commercial difficulties, England is simultaneously bothered by the critical state of the French finances. T h e
maneuvers of the Bank of France to stay the bullion drain to
England by accommodation bills, obtained from the Rothschilds
and other great firms, have, as was to be foreseen, resulted in a
but temporary mitigation of her embarrassments. She has now
successively applied for succor to the banks at Berlin, Hamburg,
and St. Petersburg; but all these tentatives, instead of procuring
relief, have only betrayed despair. T h e straits to which the French
Government is actually put appear from two measures recurred to
in the course of a fortnight. The interest on the Treasury bills, in
order to keep them afloat, had to be raised to 7 V2 per cent, while
Victor Emmanuel was commanded to partially postpone the
instalments of the new Italian loan, of which French capitalists
hold a very large amount. He, of course, acceded to the
application of his patron.
In the Tuileries there are now two opposite influences,
proposing two opposite nostrums for the temporary cure of the
financial disease. The real Bonapartists, Persigny, and the Crdit
Mobilier,77 cherish a project by which to subject the Bank of
France to the direct and complete control of the Government, to
convert her into a mere dependency on the Treasury, and to use
the power thus obtained for the unrestricted emission of
inconvertible State paper money. The other party, represented by
Fould, and other renegades of former regimes, propose a new
loan, whose amount is variously estimated by the most modest at
16,000,000, by the more daring at 30,000,000.
Written on November 2, 1861
First published in the New-York Daily
Tribune, No. 6440, November 23, 1861
62
Karl Marx
ECONOMIC NOTES
London, November 3
At the present moment general politics are non-existent in
England. The interest of the country is absorbed in the French
financial, commercial and agricultural crisis, the British industrial
crisis, the dearth of cotton and the American question.
Competent circles here are not for a moment deceived
concerning the Bank of France's bill-jobbing with a few big houses
on both sides of the Channel being a palliative of the weakest
sort. 3 All that could be achieved and has been achieved thereby
was a momentary abatement of the drain of gold to England. The
repeated attempts of the Bank of France to raise metallic auxiliary
troops in Petersburg, Hamburg and Berlin damage its credit,
without filling its coffers. The raising of the rate of interest on
treasury bills, in order to keep them in currency, and the necessity
of securing a remission of the payments for the new Italian loan
from Victor Emmanuelboth are held here to be serious
symptoms of French financial sickness. It is known, moreover, that
at the present moment two projects contend in the Tuileries for
precedence. T h e full-blooded Bonapartists, with Persigny and
Preire (of the Crdit Mobilier) b at their head, want to make the
Bank of France completely subject to governmental authority, to
reduce it to a mere office of the Finance Ministry, and to use the
institution, thus transformed, as an assignat factory.
It is known that this principle was originally at the bottom of the
organisation of the Crdit Mobilier. The less adventurous party,
a
Economie Notes
63
64
Karl Marx
Canada. Ed.
The original mistakenly says 25 per cent. Marx took the figure from The
Economist, No. 949, November 2, 1861, where an error had been made in the
calculation. Ed.
b
Economie Notes
65
Printed
paper
66
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INTERVENTION IN MEXICO
London, November 7
The Times of today has a leading article 3 in its well-known,
confusedly kaleidoscopic, affectedly humorous style, on the French
government's invasion of Dappenthal and on Switzerland's protest
against this violation of territory. 86 T h e oracle of Printing House
Square 8 7 recalls how, at the time of most acute struggle between
English manufacturers and landowners, little children employed in
the factories were led to throw needles into the most delicate parts
of the machinery to upset the motion of the whole powerful
automaton. The machinery is Europe, the little child is Switzerland and the needle that she throws into the smoothly running
automaton isLouis Bonaparte's invasion of her territory or,
rather, her outcry at his invasion. Thus the needle is suddenly
transformed into the outcry at the needle's prick and the
metaphor into a piece of buffoonery at the expense of the reader
who expects a metaphor. The Times is further enlivened by its
own discovery that Dappenthal consists of a single village called
Cressonnires. It ends its short article with a complete contradiction of its beginning. Why, it exclaims, make so much ado about
this infinitely small Swiss bagatelle, when every quarter of Europe
will be ablaze next spring? One may not forget that, shortly
before, Europe was a well regulated automaton. The whole article
appears sheer nonsense and yet it has its sense. It is a declaration
that Palmerston has given carte blanche in the Swiss incident to his
ally on the other side of the Channel. The explanation of this
a
"Some of our middle-aged readers may recollect the time...", The Times,
No. 24083, November 6, 1861. Ed.
Intervention in Mexico
67
68
Karl Marx
Spain. T o this end the combined forces would occupy the principal
ports of Mexico, collect the import and export duties on her coast
and hold this "material guarantee" a till all debt claims were satisfied.
T h e other organ of Palmerston, The Times, declared, on the
contrary, that England was "steeled against plunderings on the
part of bankrupt Mexico by long experience". It was not a
question of the private interests of the creditors, but "they hope
that the mere presence of a combined squadron in the Gulf of
Mexico and the seizure of certain ports, will urge the Mexican
government to new exertions in keeping the internal peace, and will
compel the malcontents to confine themselves to some form of
opposition more constitutional than brigandage".
According to this, the expedition would therefore take place to
support the official government of Mexico. At the same time,
however, The Times intimates that "the City of Mexico was
sufficiently healthy, should it be necessary to penetrate so far".
The most original means of consolidating a government
indisputably consists in the sequestration of its revenues and its
territories by force. On the other hand, mere occupation of the
ports and collection of the duties in them can only cause the
Mexican government to set up a more inland-lying line of custom
houses. Import duties on foreign commodities, export duties on
American commodities would in this way be doubled; the
intervention would in fact satisfy the claims of European creditors
by extortions from European-Mexican trade. T h e Mexican government can become solvent only by internal consolidation, but it can
consolidate itself at home only so long as its independence is
respected abroad.
If the expedition's ostensible ends are so contradictory, then the
ostensible means to these ostensible ends are still more contradictory. T h e English government organs themselves admit that if one
thing or another would be attainable by a unilateral intervention
of France or England or Spain, everything becomes unattainable
by a joint intervention of these states.
One may recall that the Liberal Party in Mexico under Juarez,
the official President of the republic, has now the upper hand at
almost all points; that the Catholic Party under General Marquez
has suffered defeat after defeat, and that the robber band
organised by it has been driven back to the sierras of Queretaro
and is dependent on an alliance with Meja, the Indian chief there.
T h e last hope of the Catholic Party was Spanish intervention.
a
T h e phrase occurs in an item published in the column "Great Britain" in the
New-York Daily Tribune, No. 6462, December 19, 1861. Ed.
Intervention in Mexico
69
" T h e only point," says The Times,' "on which there may possibly be a difference
between ourselves and our allies, regards the government of the republic. England will
be content to see it remain in the hands of the Liberal Party, while France and
Spain are suspected of a partiality for the ecclesiastical rule which has recently been
overthrown. It would be strange, if France were, in bo.th the old and the new
world, to make herself the protector of priests and bandits. Just as in Italy the
partisans of Francis II at Rome are being equipped for their work of making
Naples ungovernable, so in Mexico the highways, indeed, the streets of the capital,
are infested with robbers, whom the church party openly declares to be its
friends."
" T h e Case of Mexico", The Economist, No. 947, October 19, 1861. Ed.
Marx presumably quotes this passage (La Patrie, October 29, 1861) from a
reprint in the New-York Daily Tribune, No. 6434, November 16, 1861. Ed.
b
71134
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Printed
paper
71
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T H E INTERVENTION IN MEXICO
Here and below Marx makes use of the press review from the article "The
Projected Intervention in Mexico", The Free Press, No. 10, October 2, 1861. Ed.
7*
72
Karl Marx
T h e Intervention in Mexico
73
74
Karl Marx
that Vera Cruz and other points on the coast were to be seized, an
advance to the capital being agreed upon in case of noncompliance by the constituted authorities in Mexico with the
demands of the intervention; that, moreover, a strong government was to be imported into the Republic. 3
The Times, which ever since its first announcement on September 27, b seemed to have forgotten the very existence of
Mexico, had now again to step forward. Everybody ignorant of its
connection with Palmerston, and the original introduction in its
columns of his scheme, would be induced to consider the to-day's
leader of The Times as the most cutting and merciless satire on the
whole adventure. It sets out by stating that "the expedition is a
very remarkable one" [later on it says a curious one].
"Three States are combining to coerce a fourth into good behavior, not so much
by way of war as by authoritative interference in behalf of order."c
T h e Intervention in Mexico
75
76
Karl Marx
only the Anti-Slavery cause, but also the mortgage on the public lands,
thus robbing the English bondholders of their security. The
Mexican Government protested at the time, but meanwhile, later
on, Secretary John C. Calhoun could permit himself the jest of
informing the Cabinet of St. James that its desire "of seeing
Slavery abolished in Texas would be" best realized by annexing
Texas to the United States. T h e English bondholders lost, in fact,
any claim upon Mexico, by the voluntary sacrifice on the part of
Palmerston of the mortgage secured to them in the treaty of 1826.
But, since The London Times avows that the present intervention
has nothing to do either with monetary claims or with personal
outrages, what, then, in all the world, is its real or pretended aim?
"An authoritative interference in behalf of Order. " a
Palmerston and The Times, then, are fully aware that there
"exists a government in Mexico," that "the Liberal party,"
a
T h e Intervention in Mexico
77
78
Karl Marx
79
Karl Marx
MONSIEUR FOULD
Paris, November 16
Art experts in the field of high political comedy find a source of
the purest pleasure in the French Moniteur of November 14. As in
the ancient classical drama, Fate invisibly, irresistibly enmeshes the
heroesFate in the form of a thousand million-franc deficit. As
in ancient drama, the dialogue is only between two persons,
Oedipus-Bonaparte and Teiresias-Fould. T h e tragedy turns into
comedy, however, since Teiresias says only what Oedipus has
whispered to him in advance. 3
One of the most characteristic tricks of Bonapartist comedy is to
put its old, worn dramatis personae on stage over and over again as
brand-new heroes. Billault comes on in place of Persigny, and
then Persigny comes on in place of Billault! And likewise in the
Decembrist press! b Grandguillot, Cassagnac, Limayrac are tossed
to and fro between the Constitutionnel, the Pays and the Patrie.
Monsieur Vron, the "Bourgeois de Paris", 0 is replaced by Cesena
as director of the Constitutionnel, Cesena by Cucheval, Cucheval by
Cassagnac, Cassagnac by Rene, Rene by Grandguillot, and after
six years Vron comes on again in his old spotas a brand-new
hero.
Likewise under the constitutional system Thiers became new as
soon as Guizot was worn out, and Mole new as soon as Thiers was
worn out, and then the round was repeated. However, these
a
An allusion to
l'Empereur", both
1861.Ed.
b
T h e press of
1851. Ed.
c
An allusion to
80
Karl Marx
81
Monsieur Fould
Printed
paper
82
Karl Marx
FRANCE'S FINANCIAL SITUATION
The
Times,
No. 24093,
83
has lain hidden behind the glamorous phantasmagoria of the financial prosperity
of which it has been so often assured. Nay, at this very moment the Revue des Deux
Mondes is being prosecuted for making statements with regard to the financial
position of France, the only fault of which is that they are far too rosy."
84
Karl Marx
85
a
"Money-Market and City Intelligence", The Times, No. 24093, November 18,
1861. Ed.
b
"The Constitutional Change in France", The Economist, No. 951, November 16,
1861. Ed.
81134
86
Karl Marx
T H E DISMISSAL OF FREMONT
T h e Dismissal of Fremont
87
8*
Karl Marx
Printed
paper
89
Karl Marx
T H E TRENT
CASE 1
London, November 28
T h e conflict of the English mail ship Trent with the North
American warship San Jacinto in the narrow passage of the Old
Bahama Channel is the lion among the events of the day. In the
afternoon of November 27 the mail ship La Plata brought the
news of the incident to Southampton, whence the electric
telegraph at once flashed it to all parts of Great Britain. T h e same
evening the London Stock Exchange was the stage of stormy
scenes similar to those at the time of the announcement of the
Italian war. Quotations for government stock sank 3/4 to 1 per
cent. T h e wildest rumours circulated in London. T h e American
Ambassador, Adams, was said to have been given his passports, an
embargo to have been imposed on all American ships in the
Thames, etc. At the same time a protest meeting of merchants was
held at the Stock Exchange in Liverpool, to demand measures
from the British Government for the satisfaction of the violated
honour of the British flag. Every sound-minded Englishman went
to bed with the conviction that he would go to sleep in a state of
peace but wake up in a state of war.
Nevertheless, the fact is well-nigh categorically established that
the conflict between the Trent and the San Jacinto brings no war
in its train. T h e semi-official press, like The Times and The
Morning Post, strikes a peaceful note and pours juridically cool
deductions on the flickerings of passion. 3 Papers like the Daily
Telegraph, which at the faintest mot d'ordreb roar for the British
a
T h e reference is to the leading articles "It requires a strong effort...", The
Times, No. 24102, November 28, 1861 and "The Government of the United States
has taken a step...", The Morning Post, No. 27440, November 28, 1861. Ed.
b
Watchword. Ed.
90
Karl Marx
T h e Trent Case
91
the category of contraband even The Times, The Morning Post, etc.,
admit. There remains the question whether Messrs. Mason, Slidell
and Co. were themselves contraband and might consequently be
confiscated! T h e point is a ticklish one and differences of opinion
prevail among the doctors of law. Pratt, the most distinguished
British authority on "Contraband", in the section "QuasiContrabandDispatches, Passengers" specifically refers to "communication of information and orders from a belligerent government to its officers abroad, or the conveyance of military
passengers". 3 Messrs. Mason and Slidell, if not officers, were just
as little ambassadors, since their governments are recognised
neither by Britain nor by France. What are they, then? In
justification of the very broad conceptions of contraband asserted
by Britain in the Anglo-French wars, 108 Jefferson already remarks
in his memoirs that contraband, by its nature, precludes any
exhaustive definition and necessarily leaves great scope for
arbitrariness. 11 In any event, however, one sees that from the
standpoint of English law the legal question dwindles to a Duns
Scotus controversy, 109 the explosive force of which will not go
beyond exchange of diplomatic notes.
The political aspect of the North American procedure was
estimated quite correctly by The Times in these words:
"Even Mr. Seward himself must know that the voices of the Southern
commissioners, sounding from their captivity, are a thousand times more eloquent
in London and in Paris than they would have been if they had been heard in St.
James's and the Tuileries." 0
F. Th. Pratt, Law of Contraband of War..., London, 1856, pp. LIV-LV. Ed.
Th. Jefferson, Memoirs, Correspondence, and Private Papers..., Vol. I l l , London,
1829, p. 488. Ed.
c
"It requires a strong effort...". Ed.
b
92
Karl Marx
T H E ANGLO-AMERICAN CONFLICT 1 1 0
London, November 29
T h e law officers of the Crown 3 had yesterday to give their
opinion on the naval incident in the Bahama Channel. b Their
records of the case consisted of the written reports of the British
officers who have remained on board the Trent and of the oral
testimony of Commodore Williams, who was on board the Trent as
Admiralty agent, but disembarked from the steamer La Plata on
November 27 at Southampton, whence he was immediately
summoned by telegraph to London. The law officers of the Crown
acknowledged the right of the San Jacinto to visit and search the
Trent. Since Queen Victoria's proclamation of neutrality on the
outbreak of the American Civil War 0 expressly lists dispatches
among articles of contraband, 0 there could be no doubt on this
point either. There remained, then, the question whether Messrs.
Mason, Slidell and Co. were themselves contraband and therefore
confiscable. T h e law officers of the Crown appear to hold this
view, for they have dropped the material legal question entirely.
According to the report of The Times* their opinion blames the
commander of the San Jacinto{ only for an error in procedure.
Instead of Messrs. Mason, Slidell and Co., he should have taken
a
T h e Attorney-General and the Solicitor-General. At the time, the posts were
held by R. Palmer and W. Atherton. Ed.
b
See this volume, pp. 89-91. Ed.
c
Victoria, R. A Proclamation [May 13, 1861], The Times, No. 23933, May 15,
1861. Ed.
d
See this volume, pp. 105-107. Ed.
e
"Wherever two or three men met together yesterday...", The Times,
No. 24103, November 29, 1861, leading article. Ed.
f
Ch. Wilkes. Ed.
94
Karl Marx
95
Karl Marx
T H E NEWS AND ITS EFFECT IN LONDON
96
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97
98
Karl Marx
Moniteur, The Morning Post, declared on the same day that mail
steamers were simple merchantmen, not sharing the exemption
from the right of search of men-of-war and transports. 3 The right
of search, on the part of the San Jacinto, was in point of fact,
conceded by the London press as well as the law officers of the
Crown. T h e objection that the Trent, instead of sailing from a
belligerent to a belligerent port, was, on the contrary, bound from
a neutral to a neutral port, fell to the ground by Lord Stowell's
decision that the right of search is intended to ascertain the
destination of a ship. b
In the second instance, the question arose whether by firing a
round shot across the bows of the Trent, and subsequently
throwing a shell, bursting close to her, the San Jacinto had not
violated the usages and courtesies appurtenant to the exercise of
the right of visitation and search. It was generally conceded by the
London press that, since the details of the event have till now been
only ascertained by the depositions of one of the parties
concerned, no such minor question could influence the decision to
be arrived at by the British Government.
The right of search, exercised by the San Jacinto, thus being
conceded, what had she to look for? For contraband of war,
presumed to be conveyed by the Trent. What is contraband of
war? Are the dispatches of a belligerent Government contraband of
war? Are the persons carrying those dispatches contraband of war?
And, both questions being answered in the affirmative, do those
dispatches and the bearers of them continue to be contraband of
war, if found on a merchant ship bound from a neutral port to a
neutral port? T h e London press admits that the decisions of the
highest legal authorities on both sides of the Atlantic are so
contradictory, and may be claimed with such appearance of justice
for both the affirmative and the negative, that, at all events, a
prima faciec case is made out for the San Jacinto.
Concurrently with this prevalent opinion of the English press,
the English Crown lawyers have altogether dropped the material
question, and only taken up the formal question. They assert that
the law of nations was not violated in substance, but in form only.
They have arrived at the conclusion that the San Jacinto failed in
seizing, on her own responsibility, the Southern Commissioners,
a
" T h e Government of the United States has taken a step...", The Morning Post,
No. 27440, November 28, 1861. Ed.
b
"It requires a strong effort...". Ed.
c
Plausible. Ed.
99
100
Karl Marx
a
"It requires a strong effort...", The Times, No. 24102, November 28, 1861,
leading article. Ed.
101
Karl Marx
T H E PRINCIPAL ACTORS IN T H E TRENT
DRAMA 117
London, December 4
At the present moment it is of interest to get acquainted in some
measure with the leading figures in the Trent drama. On one side
stands the active hero, Captain Wilkes, the commander of the San
Jacinto; on the other, the passive heroes, / . M. Mason and John
Slidell. Captain Charles Wilkes is a direct descendant of the
brother of the celebrated English demagogue, [John] Wilkes, who
threatened for a moment to shake the throne of George III. 118
T h e struggle with the North American colonies saved the
Hanoverian dynasty at that time from the outbreak of an English
revolution, symptoms of which were alike perceptible in the cry of
a Wilkes and the letters of a Junius. Captain Wilkes, born in New
York in 1798, forty-three years in the service of the American
navy, commanded the squadron that from 1838 to 1842 explored
the North and South Pacific Ocean by order of the Union
government. He has published a report on this expedition in five
volumes. 3 He is also the author of a work on Western America,
which contains some valuable information on California and the
Oregon district. 0 It is now certain that Wilkes improvised his coup
de mainc independently and without instructions from Washington.
T h e two intercepted commissioners of the Southern Confederacy Messrs. Mason and Slidellform a contrast in every respect.
Mason, born in 1798, is descended from one of those old
a
Ch. Wilkes, Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition..., Vols. I-V,
Philadelphia, 1845. Ed.
b
Ch. Wilkes, Western America, including California and Oregon..., Philadelphia,
1849. Ed.
c
An impetuous and unexpected attack. Ed.
91134
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Karl Marx
G. Mason. Ed.
Marx uses the English expression and gives the German translation in
parenthesis. Ed.
c
Marx uses the English words "tallow-chandlers" and gives the German
translation in parenthesis. Ed.
d
Marx gives the English name in brackets after its German equivalent. Ed.
b
103
9*
104
Karl Marx
Mason and Slidell appeared to the people of the North not merely
as their political opponents, but as their personal enemies. Hence the
general jubilation over their capture, which in its first days even
overwhelmed regard for the danger threatening from England.
Written on December 4, 1861
First published in Die Presse, No. 337,
December 8, 1861
105
Karl Marx
[CONTROVERSY OVER T H E TRENT
CASE] 125
London, December 7
T h e Palmerston pressand on another occasion I will show
that in foreign affairs Palmerston's control over nine-tenths of the
English press is just as absolute as Louis Bonaparte's over
nine-tenths of the French press 3 the Palmerston press feels that
it works among "pleasing hindrances". 15 On the one hand, it
admits that the law officers of the Crown 0 have reduced the
accusation against the United States to a mere mistake in procedure,
to a technical error. On the other hand, it boasts that on the basis of
such a legal quibble a compelling ultimatum has been presented to
the United States, such as can only be justified by a gross violation
of law, but not by a formal error in the exercise of a recognised
right. Accordingly, the Palmerston press now pleads the question
of material right again. T h e great importance of the case appears
to demand a brief examination of the question of material right.
By way of introduction, it may be observed that not a single
English paper ventures to reproach the San Jacinto for the visitation and search of the Trent. This point, therefore, falls outside the controversy.
First, we again call to mind the relevant passage in Queen
Victoria's proclamation of neutrality of May 13, 1861. T h e passage
reads:
"Victoria R.
"As we are at peace with the United States ... we warn all our beloved subjects
... to abstain from contravening our Proclamation ... by breaking the legally
a
b
c
106
Karl Marx
recognised blockade or by carrying officers ... dispatches ... or any other contraband
of war. All persons so offending will be liable to the various penalties imposed in
that behalf by the English municipal law and by the law of nations.... Such persons
will in no way receive our protection against the consequences of their conduct but
will, on the contrary, incur our displeasure." 3
107
Two points are therefore established. Queen Victoria's proclamation of May 13, 1861, subjects English ships that carry
dispatches of the Confederacy to the penalties of international law.
International law, according to its English and American interpreters, imposes the penalty of capture and confiscation on such ships.
Palmerston's organs consequently lied on orders from above
and we were naive enough to believe their liein affirming that
the captain of the San Jacinto had neglected to seek for dispatches
on the Trent and therefore had of course found none; and that
the Trent had consequently become shot-proof through this
oversight. The American journals of November 17 to 20, which
could not yet have been aware of the English lie, unanimously state,
on the contrary, that the dispatches had been seized and were
already in print for submission to Congress in Washington. This
changes the whole state of affairs. Because of these dispatches, the
San Jacinto had the right to take the Trent in tow and every
American prize court had the duty to confiscate her and her cargo.
With the Trent, her passengers also naturally came within the pale
of American jurisdiction.
Messrs. Mason, Slidell and Co., as soon as the Trent had
touched at Monroe, came under American jurisdiction as rebels.
If, therefore, instead of towing the Trent herself to an American
port, the captain of the San Jacinto contented himself with seizing
the dispatches and their bearers, he in no way worsened the
position of Mason, Slidell and Co., whilst, on the other hand, his
error in procedure benefited the Trent, her cargo and her
passengers. And it would be indeed unprecedented if Britain
wished to declare war on the United States because Captain Wilkes
committed an error in procedure harmful to the United States, but
profitable to Britain.
T h e question whether Mason, Slidell and Co. were themselves
contraband, was only raised and could only be raised because the
Palmerston journals had broadcast the lie that Captain Wilkes had
neither searched for dispatches, nor seized dispatches. For in this
case Mason, Slidell and Co. in fact constituted the sole objects on
the ship Trent that could possibly fall under the category of
contraband. Let us, however, disregard this aspect for the
moment. Queen Victoria's proclamation designates "officers'^ of a
belligerent party as contraband. Are "officers" merely military
a
b
108
Karl Marx
officers? Were Mason, Slidell and Co. "officers" of the Confederacy? "Officers, " says Samuel Johnson in his dictionary of the English
language, are "men employed by the public", 3 that is, in German:
ffentliche Beamte. Walker gives the same definition. (See his
dictionary, 1861 edition.)
According to the usage of the English language, therefore,
Mason, Slidell and Co., these emissaries, id est, officials of the
Confederacy, come under the category of "officers", whom the
royal proclamation declares to be contraband. T h e Trent captain
knew them in this capacity and therefore rendered himself, his
ship and his passengers confiscable. If, according to Phillimore
and all other authorities, a ship becomes confiscable as the carrier 0
of an enemy dispatch because it violates neutrality, in a still higher
degree is this true of the person who carries the dispatches.
According to Wheaton, even an enemy ambassador, so long as he is
in transitu, may be intercepted. In general, however, the basis of
all international law is that any member of the belligerent party
may be regarded and treated as "belligerent" by the opposing
party.
"So long as a man," says Vattel, "continues to be a citizen of his own country, he
is the enemy of all those with whom his nation is at war." c
One sees, therefore, that the law officers of the English Crown
reduced the point of contention to a mere error in procedure, not an
error in re,d but an error in forma,e because, actually, no violation
of material right is to hand. The Palmerston organs chatter about
the question of material right again because a mere error in
procedure, in the interest of the "Trent" at that, gives no plausible
pretext for a haughty-toned ultimatum.
Meanwhile, important voices have been raised in this sense from
diametrically opposite sides: on the one side, Messrs. Bright and
Cobden; on the other, David Urquhart. These men are enemies on
grounds of principle and personally: the first two, peaceable
cosmopolitans; the third, the "last of the Englishmen"; the former
always ready to sacrifice all international law to international
trade; the other hesitating not a moment: "Fiat justitia, pereat
mundus",1 and by "justice" he understands "English" justice. The
a
b
Ed.
c
d
e
f
E. de Vattel, Le Droit des gens..., Tome II, livre III, chapitre V, 71. Ed.
In substance. Ed.
In form. Ed.
Let justice be done, though the world perish. Ed.
109
Printed
paper
a
J. Bright's speech and R. Cobden's letter were reported in the note, "Mr.
Bright on America", The Times, No. 24109, December 6, 1861. Ed.
b
Here and above Marx quotes from the article, " 'We must bombard New York!'
Such were...", The Free Press, No. 12, December 4, 1861. Ed.
' "'Public Opinion' on the San Jacinto Affair", The Free Press, same issue. Ed.
110
Karl Marx
PROGRESS OF FEELING IN ENGLAND
111
"A war with America," says The Economist, a paper deeply in Palmerston's
confidence, "must always be one of the most lamentable incidents in the history of
England; but if it is to happen, the present is certainly the period at which it will do us
the minimum of harm, and the only moment in our joint annals at which it would confer
on us an incidental and partial compensation."a
112
Karl Marx
she has made herself systematically guilty in all her maritime wars,
but against which the United States have never ceased to protest,
and which President Madison, in his message inaugurating the war
of 1812,a expatiated upon as one of the most shocking breaches of
international law. If the United States may be defended in paying
England with her own coin, will they be accused for magnanimously disavowing, on the part of a single American captain,15 acting
on his own responsibility, what they always denounced as a
systematic usurpation on the part of the British Navy! In point of
fact, the gain of such a procedure would be all on the American
side. England, on the one hand, would have acknowledged the
right of the United States to capture and bring to adjudication
before an American prize court every English ship employed in
the service of the Confederation. On the other hand, she would,
once for all, before the eyes of the whole world, have practically
resigned a claim which she was not brought to desist from either
in the peace of Ghent, in 1814,c or the transactions carried on
between Lord Ashburton and Secretary Webster in 1842.127 T h e
question then comes to this: Do you prefer to turn the "untoward
event" to your own account, or, blinded by the passions of
the moment, turn it to the account of your foes at home and
abroad?
Since this day week, when I sent you my last letter, d British
consols have again lowered, the decline, compared with last
Friday, amounting to 2 per cent, the present prices being 89 3 / 4 to
7
Is for money and 90 to 90 Vs for the new account on the 9th of
January. This quotation corresponds to the quotation of the
British consols during the first two years of the Anglo-Russian
war. e This decline is altogether due to the warlike interpretation
put upon the American papers conveyed by the last mail, to the
exacerbating tone of the London press, whose moderation of two
days' standing was but a feint, ordered by Palmerston, to the
dispatch of troops for Canada, to the proclamation forbidding the
export of arms and materials for gunpowder f and lastly, to the
a
J. Madison, To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States
[Washington, June 1, 1812]. Ed.
b
Ch. Wilkes. Ed.
c
A Treaty of Peace and Amity between his Britannic Majesty and the United States of
America; signed at Ghent, December 24, 1814. Ed.
d
See this volume, pp. 95-100. Ed.
e
T h e Crimean War of 1853-56 Ed.
f
Victoria, R., A Proclamation [December 4, 1861], The Times, No. 24108,
December 5, 1861. Ed.
113
daily ostentatious statements concerning the formidable preparations for war in the docks and maritime arsenals.
Of one thing you may be sure, Palmerston wants a legal pretext
for a war with the United States, but meets in the Cabinet councils
with a most determinate opposition on the part of Messrs.
Gladstone and Milner Gibson, and, to a less degree, of Sir
Cornwall Lewis. " T h e noble viscount" is backed by Russell, an
abject tool in his hands, and the whole Whig Coterie. If the
Washington Cabinet should furnish the desired pretext, the
present Cabinet will be sprung, to be supplanted by a Tory
Administration. T h e preliminary steps for such a change of
scenery have been already settled between Palmerston and
Disraeli. Hence the furious war-cry of The Morning Herald and
The Standard, those hungry wolves howling at the prospect of the
long-missed crumbs from the public almoner.
Palmerston's designs may be shown up by calling into memory a
few facts. It was he who insisted upon the proclamation,
acknowledging the Secessionists as belligerents, on the morning of
the 14th of May, after he had been informed by telegraph from
Liverpool that Mr. Adams would arrive at London on the night of
the 13th May. He, after a severe struggle with his colleagues,
dispatched 3,000 men to Canada, an army ridiculous, if intended
to cover a frontier of 1,500 miles, but a clever sleight-of-hand if
the rebellion was to be cheered, and the Union to be irritated. He,
many weeks ago, urged Bonaparte to propose a joint armed
intervention "in the internecine struggle," supported that project
in the Cabinet council, and failed only in carrying it by the
resistance of his colleagues. He and Bonaparte then resorted to
the Mexican intervention as a pis aller? That operation served two
purposes, by provoking just resentment on the part of the
Americans, and by simultaneously furnishing a pretext for the
dispatch of a squadron, ready, as The Morning Post has it, "to
perform whatever duty the hostile conduct of the Government of
Washington may require us to perform in the waters of the
Northern Atlantic." b At the time when that expedition was
started, The Morning Post, together with The Times and the smaller
fry of Palmerston's press slaves, said that it was a very fine thing,
and a philanthropic thing into the bargain, because it would
expose the slaveholding Confederation to two firesthe Antia
114
Karl Marx
a
J. Davis, "To the Congress of the Confederate States. Richmond, Nov. 18, 1861",
New-York Daily Tribune, No. 6441, November 25, 1861. Ed.
b
"The principal intelligence conveyed by the Edinburgh...", The Morning Post,
No. 27448, December 7, 1861. Ed.
c
"Rsum politique", Le Nord, No. 337, December 3, 1861. Ed.
115
Karl Marx
T H E CRISIS OVER T H E SLAVERY ISSUE 129
London, December 10
T h e United States has evidently entered a critical stage with
regard to the slavery question, the question underlying the whole
Civil War. General Fremont has been dismissed for declaring the
slaves of rebels free. 3 A directive to General Sherman, the
commander of the expedition to South Carolina, was a little later
published by the Washington Government, which goes further
than Fremont, for it decrees that fugitive slaves even of loyal
slave-owners should be welcomed and employed as workers and
paid a wage, and under certain circumstances armed, and consoles
the "loyal" owners with the prospect of receiving compensation
later. b Colonel Cochrane has gone even further than Fremont, he
demands the arming of all slaves as a military measure. 0 The
Secretary of War Cameron publicly approves of Cochrane's
"views". d T h e Secretary of the Interior, 6 on behalf of the
government, then repudiates the Secretary of War. T h e Secretary
of War expresses his "views" even more emphatically at a public
meeting stating that he will vindicate these views in his report to
Congress/ General H alleck, Fremont's successor in Missouri, and
General Dix in east Virginia have driven fugitive Negroes from
their military camps and forbidden them to appear in future in
the vicinity of the positions held by their armies. General Wool at
the same time has received the black "contraband" with open
a
See this volume, pp. 86-88. Fremont's proclamation was published in the
New-York Daily Tribune, No. 6366, September 1, 1861. Ed.
b
The directive was discussed in the item "Instructions to Gen. Sherman",
New-York Daily Tribune, No. 6445, November 29, 1861. Ed.
c
Cochrane's message to soldiers, New-York Daily Tribune, No. 6433, November
15, 1861. Ed.
d
Cameron's speech to soldiers, New-York Daily Tribune, same issue. Ed.
e
C. B. Smith. Ed.
f
T h e Smith-Cameron polemic was discussed in a report from Washington and
published in The Times, No. 24111, December 9, 1861. Ed.
116
Karl Marx
a
Croswell's letter in the New-York Daily Tribune, No. 6441, November 25,
1861. In a postscript to it Dickinson declared himself in agreement with
Croswell. Ed.
b
Marx gives the beginning of this sentence in English in brackets, after the
German equivalent. In the same manner he gives the phrase "on my own hook"
further in this paragraph. Ed.
c
Jennison's address was reproduced in the item "Camp Jennison. Kansas City,
Tuesday, Nov. 12, 1861", New-York Daily Tribune, No. 6441, November 25,
1861. Ed.
d
These events were reported in the item "Hatteras Inlet, N.C., Nov. 18, 1861",
New-York Daily Tribune, No. 6438, November 21, 1861. Ed.
117
Karl Marx
AMERICAN MATTERS
London, December 13
T h e news of the fate of the Harvey Birch and the visit of the
cruiser Nashville in Southampton harbour reached New York on
November 29, but does not seem to have provoked the sensation
that was every bit as expected in certain circles here as it was
feared in others, hostile to the war.132 This time, one wave broke
on another. For New York was stirred up by the campaign for the
election of the Mayor on December 3. The Washington correspondent of The Times, Mr. Russell, who spoils his Celtic talent by
affecting English ways, pretends to shrug his shoulders in wonder
at this excitement over the mayoral election. 3 Of course, Mr.
Russell is flattering the illusion of the London cockney that the
election of the Mayor in New York is the same kind of
old-fashioned tomfoolery as the election of a Lord Mayor in
London. It is well known that the Lord Mayor of London has
nothing to do with the greater part of London. He is the nominal
ruler of the City, a story-book character who strives to prove his
reality by producing good turtle soups at banquets and bad
judgments in cases of violation of police regulations. A Lord
Mayor of London is a government figure only in the imagination
of Paris writers of vaudeville and faits divers!3 T h e Mayor of New
York, on the contrary, is a real power. At the beginning of the
secession movement the then Mayor, the notorious Fernando Wood,
was on the point of proclaiming New York an independent city
republic, 133 in collusion, of course, with Jefferson Davis. His plan
a
[W. H. Russell] "Washington, Nov. 29", The Times, No. 24115, December 13,
1861. Ed.
b
Local news items. Ed.
101134
118
Karl Marx
P. S. Brooks. Ed.
Sumner's speech was published in the New-York Daily Tribune, No. 6444,
November 28, 1861. Ed.
c
Presumably Henry Wilson. Ed.
d
" T h e Sentiment of the Cooper Institute Meeting Last Night", New-York Daily
Tribune, No. 6444, November 28, 1861. Ed.
e
"It is certainly an indicative and important fact...", New-York Daily Tribune,
same issue, leading article. Ed.
f
Th. Murphy. Ed.
g Isabella IL Ed.
b
American Matters
119
Queen a is said to have been selected for the position already. As he is an old man,
he would soon leave the stage in the natural course of events, and since any clause
concerning the nomination of his successor is to be avoided, Mexico would thus
revert to Spainso that the same policy would triumph in Mexico as in Haiti." 137
Written on December 13, 1861
First published in Die Presse, No. 346,
December 17, 1861
124
Karl Marx
T H E WASHINGTON CABINET
AND T H E WESTERN POWERS 14
125
126
Karl Marx
Printed
paper
a
The reference is to Queen Victoria's proclamation of neutrality of May 13,
1861 (see this volume, pp. 92). Ed.
134
Karl Marx
A PRO-AMERICA MEETING
London, January l
T h e anti-war movement among the English people gains from
day to day in energy and extent. Public meetings in the most
diverse parts of the country insist on settlement by arbitration of
the dispute between England and America. Memoranda in this
sense rain on the chief of the Cabinet, 3 and the independent
provincial press is almost unanimous in its opposition to the war-cry
of the London press.
Subjoined is a detailed report of the meeting held last Monday b
in Brighton, since it emanated from the working class, and the two
principal speakers, Messrs. Coningham and White, are influential
members of Parliament who both sit on the ministerial side of the
House.
Mr. Wood (a worker) proposed the first motion, to the effect
"that the dispute between England and America arose out of a misinterpretation of international law, but not out of an intentional insult to the British flag; that
accordingly this meeting is of the opinion that the whole question in dispute should
be referred to a neutral power for decision by arbitration; that under the existing
circumstances a war with America is not justifiable, but rather merits the
condemnation of the English people".
H. J. Palmerston. Ed.
December 30, 1861. Ed.
A Pro-America Meeting
135
the hour of her peril, we take advantage of a position favourable to us, to revenge
the insult. Would not such a procedure brand us as cowards in the eyes of the
civilised world?"
Mr. Coningham:
"...At this moment there is developing in the midst of the Union an avowed
policy of emancipation (Applause), and I express the earnest hope that no intervention
on the part of the English government will be permitted (Applause).... Will you,
freeborn Englishmen, allow^ yourselves to be embroiled in an anti-republican war?
For that is the intention of The Times and of the party that stands behind it.... I
appeal to the workers of England, who have the greatest interest in the
preservation of peace, to raise their voices and, in case of need, their hands for the
prevention of so great a crime (Loud applause)... The Times has exerted every
endeavour to excite the warlike spirit of the land and by bitter scorn and slanders
to engender a hostile mood among the Americans.... I do not belong to the
so-called peace party. 1 5 4 The Times favoured the policy of Russia and put forth (in
1853) all its powers to mislead our country into looking on calmly at the military
encroachments of Russian barbarism in the East. I was amongst those who raised
their voices against this false policy. At the time of the introduction of the
Conspiracy Bill, whose object was to facilitate the extradition of political refugees,
no expenditure of effort seemed too great to The Times, to force this Bill through
the Lower House. I was one of the 99 members of the House who withstood this
encroachment on the liberties of the English people and brought about the
minister's downfall 1 5 5 (applause). This minister is now at the head of the Cabinet. I
prophesy to him that should he seek to embroil our country in a war with America
without good and sufficient reasons, his plan will fail ignominiously. I promise him
a fresh ignominious defeat, a worse defeat than was his lot on the occasion of the
Conspiracy Bill (Loud applause).... I do not know the official communication that
has gone to Washington; but the opinion prevails that the Crown lawyers 3 have
recommended the government to take its stand on the quite narrow legal ground
that the Southern commissioners might not be seized without the ship that carried
them. Consequently the handing over of Slidell and Mason is to be demanded as
the conditio sine qua non.
"Suppose the people on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean does not permit its
government to hand them over. Will you go to war for the bodies of these two
envoys of the slavedrivers?... There exists in this country an anti-republican war
party. Remember the last Russian war. From the secret dispatches published in
Petersburg it was clear beyond all doubt that the articles published by The Times in
1855 were written by a person who had access to the secret Russian state papers
and documents. At that time Mr. Layard read the striking passages in the Lower
House, b and The Times, in its consternation, immediately changed its tone and blew
the war-trumpet next morning 0 ... The Times has repeatedly attacked the Emperor
Napoleon and supported our government in its demand for unlimited credits for
land fortifications and floating batteries. Having done this and raised the alarm cry
against France, does The Times now wish to leave our coast exposed to the French
emperor by embroiling our country in a trans-Atlantic war...? It is to be feared that
a
11
Karl Marx
136
the present great preparations are intended by no means only for the Trent case
but for the eventuality of a recognition of the government of the slave states. If
England does this, then she will cover herself with everlasting shame."
Mr. White:
"It is due to the working class to mention that they are the originators of this
meeting and that all the expenses of organising it are borne by their committee....
T h e present government never had the good judgment to deal honestly and
frankly with the people.... I have never for a moment believed that there was the
remotest possibility of a war developing out of the Trent case. I have said to the
face of more than one member of the government that not a single member of the
government believed in the possibility of a war on account of the Trent case. Why,
then, these massive preparations? J believe that England and France have reached
an understanding to recognise the independence of the Southern states next
spring. By then Great Britain would have a fleet of superior strength in American
waters. Canada would be completely equipped for defence. If the Northern states
are then inclined to make a casus belli out of the recognition of the Southern states,
Great Britain will then be prepared...."
Die
Presse, No. 5,
Printed
paper
178
Karl Marx
AMERICAN AFFAIRS 1
American Affairs
179
McClellan and most of the officers of the regular army who got
their training at West Point 190 are more or less bound by esprit de
corpsc to their old comrades in the enemy camp. They are inspired
by the same jealousy of the parvenus among the "civilian soldiers".
In their view, the war must be waged in a strictly businesslike
fashion, with constant regard to the restoration of the Union on its
old basis, and therefore must above all be kept free from
revolutionary tendencies and tendencies affecting matters of
principle. A fine conception of a war which is essentially a war of
principles. The first generals of the English Parliament fell into
the same error.
"But," said Cromwell in his speech to the Rump on July 4, 1653, "how changed
everything was as soon as men took the lead who professed a principle of godliness
and religion!" d
180
Karl Marx
"The end and aim of all General McClellan's military combinations is the
restoration of the Union just as it existed before the Rebellion began." 3
181
American Affairs
Printed
paper
141134
Tribune,
182
Karl Marx
T H E SECESSIONISTS' FRIENDS IN T H E LOWER HOUSE.
RECOGNITION OF T H E AMERICAN BLOCKADE 192
London, March 8
Parturiunt montes!* Since the opening of Parliament the English
friends of Secessia had threatened a "motion" on the American
blockade. The resolution has at length been introduced in the
Lower House b in the very modest form of a motion in which the
government is urged "to submit further documents on the state of
the blockade"and even this insignificant motion was rejected
without the formality of a division.
Mr. Gregory, the member for Galway, who moved the resolution,
had in the parliamentary session of last year, shortly after the
outbreak of the Civil War, already introduced a motion for
recognition of the Southern Confederacy. c To his speech d of this
year a certain sophistical adroitness is not to be denied. The
speech merely suffers from the unfortunate circumstance that it
falls into two parts, of which the one cancels the other. One part
describes the disastrous effects of the blockade on the English
cotton industry and therefore demands removal of the blockade.
T h e other part proves from the papers submitted by the ministry,
two memorials by Messrs. Yancey and Mann and by Mr. Mason
among them, that the blockade does not exist at all, except on
paper, and therefore should no longer be recognised. Mr. Gregory
spiced his argument with successive citations from The Times. The
Times, for whom a reminder of its oracular pronouncements is at
a
Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus!The mountains are in labour, a
ridiculous mouse will be born! (Horace, Art of Poetry, 139.)Ed.
b
W. H. Gregory [Speech in the House of Commons, March 7, 1862], The
Times, No. 24188, March 8, 1862. Ed.
c
W. H. Gregory [Speech in the House of Commons, May 28, 1861], The Times,
No. 23945, May 29, 1861. Ed.
d
Marx gives the English word. Ed.
183
14*
184
Karl Marx
185
had offered his shipyards to the Union, and, for this purpose, had
travelled to Washington, where he experienced the vexation of
seeing his business propositions rejected. Since that time he has
turned his sympathies to the land of Secessia.
The debate was concluded with a circumstantial speech by Sir
R. Palmer, the Solicitor-General, 3 who spoke in the name of the
government. He furnished well grounded juridical proof of the
validity of the blockade in international law and of its sufficiency.
On this occasion he in fact tore to piecesand was taxed with so
doing by Lord Cecilthe "new principles" proclaimed at the
Paris Convention of 1856.193 Among other things, he expressed his
astonishment that in a British Parliament Gregory and his
associates ventured to appeal to the authority of Monsieur de
Hautefeuille. T h e latter, to be sure, is a brand-new "authority"
discovered in the Bonapartist camp. Hautefeuille's compositions
in the Revue contemporaine on the maritime rights of neutrals' 5
prove the completest ignorance or mauvaise foic at higher
command.
With the complete fiasco of the parliamentary friends of
secession in the blockade question, all prospect of a breach
between Britain and the United States is eliminated.
Written on March 8, 1862
First published in Die Presse, No. 70,
March 12, 1862
Printed
paper
186
18/
188
189
190
that the enemy had taken advantage of the night to cross the
river, leaving the camp, the baggage, the artillery and stores
behind him. In this way, the extreme right of the secessionist line
was pushed back to Tennessee, and east Kentucky, where the mass
of the population is hostile to the slaveholders' party, was
reconquered for the Union.
At about the same timetowards the middle of Januarythe
preparations for dislodging the secessionists from Columbus and
Bowling Green commenced. A strong fleet of mortar vessels and
ironclad gunboats was held in readiness, and the news was spread
in all directions that it was to serve as a convoy to a large army
marching along the Mississippi from Cairo to Memphis and New
Orleans. All the demonstrations on the Mississippi, however, were
merely mock manoeuvres. At the decisive moment, the gunboats
were brought to the Ohio and thence to the Tennessee, up which
they sailed as far as Fort Henry. This place, together with Fort
Donelson on the Cumberland River, formed the second line of
defence of the secessionists in Tennessee. T h e position was well
chosen, for in case of a retreat beyond the Cumberland the latter
river would have covered its front, the Tennessee its left flank,
while the narrow strip of land between the two rivers was
sufficiently covered by the two forts mentioned above. But the
swift action of the Unionists broke through even the second line
before the left wing and the centre of the first line had been
attacked.
In the first week of February the Unionists' gunboats appeared
in front of Fort Henry, which surrendered after a short
bombardment. The garrison escaped to Fort Donelson, since the
land forces of the expedition were not strong enough to encircle
the spot. T h e gunboats now sailed down the Tennessee again,
upstream to the Ohio and thence up the Cumberland as far as
Fort Donelson. A single gunboat sailed boldly up the Tennessee
through the very heart of the State of Tennessee, skirting the
State of Mississippi and pushing on as far as Florence in northern
Alabama, where a series of swamps and banks (known by the
name of the Muscle Shoals) prevented further navigation. The fact
that a single gunboat made this long voyage of at least 150 miles
and then returned, without experiencing any attack, proves that
Union sentiment prevails along the river and will be very useful to
the Union troops should they push forward as far as that.
The boat expedition on the Cumberland now combined its
movements with those of the land forces under generals Halleck
and Grant. The secessionists at Bowling Green were deceived over
191
[II]a
192
flight of General Floyd with 5,000 men on the second day of the
bombardment. These fugitives were too numerous to be smuggled
away in steamers during the night. If certain precautions had been
taken by the assailants, they could not have got away.a
Seven days after the surrender of Fort Donelson, Nashville was
occupied by the Federals. The distance between the two places is
about 100 English miles, and a march of 15 miles a day, on very
bad roads and in the most unfavourable season of the year,
redounds to the honour of the Unionist troops. On receipt of the
news that Fort Donelson had fallen, the secessionists evacuated
Bowling Green; a week later, they abandoned Columbus and
withdrew to a Mississippi island, 45 miles south. Thus, Kentucky
was completely reconquered for the Union. Tennessee, however,
can be held by the secessionists only if they give and win a big
battle. They are said in fact to have concentrated 65,000 men for
this purpose. Meanwhile, nothing prevents the Unionists from
bringing a superior force against them. b
T h e leadership of the Kentucky campaign from Somerset to
Nashville deserves the highest praise. The reconquest of so
extensive a territory, the advance from the Ohio to the Cumberland in a single month, evidence energy, resolution and speed
such as have seldom been attained by regular armies in Europe.
One may compare, for example, the slow advance of the Allies
from Magenta to Solferino in 1859 198 without pursuit of trie
retreating enemy, without endeavour to cut off his stragglers or in
any way to outflank and encircle whole bodies of his troops.
Halleck and Grant, in particular, offer good examples of
resolute military leadership. Without the least regard either for
Columbus or Bowling Green, they concentrate their forces on the
decisive points, Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, launch a swift and
energetic attack on these and precisely thereby render Columbus
and Bowling Green untenable. Then they march at once to
Clarksville and Nashville, without allowing the retreating secessionists time to take up new positions in northern Tennessee. During
this rapid pursuit the corps of secessionist troops in Columbus
remains completely cut off from the centre and right wing of its
army. T h e English papers have criticised this operation unjustly.
Even if the attack on Fort Donelson had failed, the secessionists
kept busy by General Buell at Bowling Green could not dispatch
a
193
194
195
199
Karl Marx
T H E ENGLISH PRESS
AND T H E FALL OF NEW ORLEANS
London, May 16
On the arrival of the first rumours of the fall of New
Orleans, 210 The Times, The Herald, The Standard, The Morning Post,
The Daily Telegraph, and other English "sympathisers" 3 with the
Southern "nigger-drivers" proved strategically, tactically, philologically, exegetically, politically, morally and fortificationally that the
rumour was one of the "canards" which Reuter, Havas, Wolff211
and their understrappers so often let fly. T h e natural means of
defence of New Orleans, it was said, had been augmented not only
by newly constructed forts, but by submarine infernal machines of
every sort and ironclad gunboats. Then there was the Spartan
character of the citizens of New Orleans and their deadly hatred
of Lincoln's mercenaries. Finally, was it not at New Orleans that
England suffered the defeat that brought her second war against
the United States (1812 to 1814) to an ignominious end?
Consequently, there was no reason to doubt that New Orleans
would immortalise itself as a second Saragossa or a Moscow of the
"South". 212 Besides, it harboured 15,000 bales of cotton, with
which it could so easily have kindled an inextinguishable fire to
destroy itself, quite apart from the fact that in 1814 the duly
damped cotton bales proved more indestructible by cannon fire
than the earthworks of Sevastopol. It was therefore as clear as
daylight that the fall of New Orleans was a case of the familiar
Yankee bragging.
When the first rumours were confirmed two days later by
steamers arriving from New York, the bulk of the English
a
200
Karl Marx
201
will take a heavy toll of the Federals in New Orleans and, finally,
if the city itself is no Moscow, is not its mayor 3 a Brutus? Only
read (cf. New York b ) his melodramatically valorous epistle to
Commodore Farragut, "Brave words, Sir, brave words!" c But
hard words break no bones.
T h e press organs of the Southern slaveholders, however, do not
construe the fall of New Orleans so optimistically as their English
comforters. This will be seen from the following extracts:
T h e Richmond Dispatch says:
"What has become of the ironclad gunboats, the Mississippi and the Louisiana,
from which we expected the salvation of the Crescent City? In respect of their
effect on the foe, these ships might just as well have been ships of glass. It is
useless do deny that the fall of New Orleans is a heavy blow. The Confederate
government is thereby cut off from West Louisiana, Texas, Missouri and Arkansas."
Printed
paper
J. F. Monroe. Ed.
This parenthesis, added by the editors of Die Presse, referred the reader to the
report from New York, "Des Brgermeisters von Neuorleans Erklrung", published
in the same issue of the paper. Ed.
c
Paraphrase of Falstaff's words ("Rare words! brave world!") from Shakespeare's
King Henry IV, Part I, Act III, Scene 3. Ed.
d
Quoted from the report, "From Fortress Monroe", the New-York Daily Tribune,
No. 6575, May 1, 1862. Ed.
e
Quoted from the report, "Washington, Thursday, May 1, 1862", the New-York
Daily Tribune, No. 6576, May 2, 1862. Ed.
b
202
Karl Marx
A TREATY AGAINST T H E SLAVE TRADE 2 1 4
London, May 18
T h e Treaty on the suppression of the slave trade concluded
between the United States and Britain on April 7 of this year in
Washington 3 is now communicated in extensob by the American
newspapers. The main points of this important document are the
following: T h e right of search is reciprocal, but can be exercised
only by such warships on either side as have received special
authority for this purpose from one of the contracting powers.
From time to time, the contracting powers supply one another
with complete statistics concerning the sections of their navies that
have been appointed to keep watch on the traffic in Negroes. The
right of search can be exercised only against merchantmen within
a distance of 200 miles from the African coast and south of 32
north latitude, and within 30 nautical miles of the coast of Cuba.
Search, whether of British ships by American cruisers or of
American ships by British cruisers, does not take place in that part
of the sea which is British or American territory (therefore within
three nautical miles of the coast); no more does it take place just
outside the ports or settlements of foreign powers.
Mixed courts, composed half of Englishmen, half of Americans,
and resident in Sierra Leone, Capetown and New York will pass
judgment on the prize vessels. In the event of a ship's conviction,
her crew will be handed over to the jurisdiction of the nation
under whose flag the ship sailed, so far as this can be done
without great cost. Not only the crew (including the captain, mate,
etc.), but also the owners of the vessel will then incur the penalties
customary in the country. Compensation to owners of merchantmen that have been acquitted by the mixed courts is to be paid
within a year by the power under whose flag the capturing
a
"Treaty between the United States of America and Her Majesty the Queen of
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, for the Suppression of the
African Slave-Trade. Concluded at Washington, April 7, 1862". Ed.
b
In detail. Ed.
203
a
A report on the Bill date-lined "Senate. Washington, May 2, 1862" appeared
in the New-York Daily Tribune, No. 6577, May 3, 1862. Ed.
b
Here and below Marx gives the English words in brackets. Ed.
204
205
206
207
208
Printed
209
Karl Marx
ENGLISH HUMANITY AND AMERICA 219
London, June 14
Humanity in England, like liberty in France, has now become an
export article for the traders in politics.3 We recollect the time
when Tsar Nicholas had Polish ladies flogged by soldiers and
when Lord Palmerston found the moral indignation of some
parliamentarians over the event "impolitic". We recollect that
about a decade ago a revolt took place on the Ionian Islands 220
which gave the English governor b there occasion to have a fairly
considerable number of Grecian women flogged. Probatum est,c
said Palmerston and his Whig colleagues who at that time were in
office. Just a few years ago proof was furnished to Parliament
from official documents that the tax collectors in India employed
means of coercion against the wives of the ryots, 221 the infamy of
which forbids giving further details. Palmerston and his colleagues
did not, it is true, dare to justify these atrocities, but what an
outcry they would have raised, had a foreign government dared to
publicly proclaim its indignation over these English infamies and
distinctly indicate that it would step in if Palmerston and
colleagues did not at once disavow the Indian tax officials. But
Cato the Censor himself could not watch over the morals of the
Roman citizens more anxiously than the English aristocrats and
their ministers over the "humanity" of the war-waging Yankees!
The ladies of New Orleans, yellow beauties, tastelessly bedecked
with jewels and comparable, perhaps, to the women of the old
Mexicans, save that they do not devour their slaves in natura? are
a
b
c
d
210
Karl Marx
211
a
W. Gregory [Speech in the House of Commons, May 28, 1861], The Times,
No. 23945, May 29, 1861. Ed.
b
Marx gives the English phrase. Ed.
c
Victoria's. Ed.
d
T h e reference is to the speeches of H. Carnarvon and J. Russell in the House of
Lords and of J. Walsh, W. Gregory and H. Palmerston in the House of Commons on
June 13, 1862 published in The Times, No. 24272, June 14, 1862. Ed.
e
Napoleon III. Ed.
212
Karl Marx
213
Frederick Engels
T H E AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
AND T H E IRONCLADS AND RAMS
About three and a half months ago, on March 8, 1862, the naval
battle between the Merrimac and the frigates Cumberland and
Congress in Hampton Roads ended the long era of wooden
men-of-war. On March 9, 1862, the naval battle between the
Merrimac and the Monitor in the same waters opened the era of
war between ironclad ships. 3
Since then the Congress in Washington has approved considerable sums for building various ships armoured with iron and
completing the large iron floating battery of Mr. Stevens (in
Hoboken, near New York). In addition, Mr. Ericsson is engaged in
completing six ships built on the pattern of the Monitor, but larger
and with two mobile turrets, each flanked with two heavy cannons.
T h e Galena, a second ironclad, not constructed by Mr. Ericsson,
and of different design to the Monitor, has been completed and
has joined the Monitor, at first to watch the Merrimac and then to
clear the banks of the James River of rebel forts; this task has
been performed to within seven or eight miles of Richmond. The
third ironclad in the James River is the Bengaluche, first named the
Stevens after its inventor and former owner.
A fourth ironclad, the New Ironsides, is being built in Philadelphia and should be ready to go to sea in a few weeks. T h e
Vanderbilt and another large steamer have been converted into
rams; a large number of other wooden men-of-war, such as the
Roanoke, are to be reborn as ironclads. In addition, the Union
government had 4 or 5 ironclad gunboats built on the Ohio, which
did good service at Fort Henry, Fort Donelson and Pittsburg
a
16 1134
214
Frederick Engels
Landing. Finally, Colonel Eilet and his friends fitted out various
rams by levelling down and ironcladding the bows of old
steamships at Cincinnati and other places on the Ohio. He did not
arm them with cannons but with sharpshooters, in which the West
abounds. He then offered the rams, the crews and his own
services to the Union government. We shall come back later to the
first feat of arms of these improvised rams.
On the other side, the Confederates did not remain inactive.
They began to build new iron ships and remodel old ones at
Norfolk. Before they had finished their work there, Norfolk fell to
the Union troops and all those ships were destroyed. In addition,
the Confederates built three very strong iron rams at New Orleans,
and a fourth ironclad of enormous size with excellent armament
was nearing completion when New Orleans fell. According to
Union naval officers, the last-named ship, when ready for battle,
would have exposed the entire Union navy to the greatest peril,
since the government in Washington had nothing equal to
opposing this monster. Its cost came to two million dollars. As we
know, the rebels themselves destroyed the ship.
At Memphis, the Confederates had built no fewer than eight
rams, each of which carried four or six guns of large caliber. It
was at Memphis that the first "battle of the rams" took place on the
Mississippi on June 6. Although the Union flotilla, coming down
the Mississippi, had five ironclad gunboats, it was two of Colonel
Eilet's rams, the Queen and the Monarch, that essentially decided
the combat. Of the eight enemy rams, four were destroyed, three
were captured and one escaped. After the gunboats of the Union
flotilla had opened a lively cannonade against the rebel ships and
kept it up for some time, the Queen and the Monarch sailed into
the midst of the enemy squadron. T h e fire of the gunboats ceased
almost completely, since Colonel Ellet's rams were tied up in such
a knot with the enemy ships that the gunners could not distinguish
friend from foe.
Ellet's rams, as already mentioned, carried no cannons but a
host of sharpshooters. Their engines and boilers were protected
only by timber work. Powerful steam engines and a sharp oak bow
covered with iron constituted the entire equipment of these rams.
Men, women and children streamed out of Memphis by the
thousands to the steep banks of the Mississippi, at some points
hardly half an English mile from the scene of battle, to watch the
"battle of the rams" in anxious suspense. T h e conflict lasted little
more than an hour. While the rebels lost 7 ships and 100 men,
about 40 of them by drowning, only one Union ship was seriously
215
226
Karl Marx
A CRITICISM OF AMERICAN AFFAIRS
227
Ed.
c
Marx uses the English words "fugitive slave laws" and gives the German
translation in brackets. Ed.
d
A. Lincoln [Address to the Representatives and Senators of the Border
Slaveholding States, July 12, 1862], New-York Daily Tribune, No. 6643, July 19,
1862. Ed.
e
A. Lincoln, Executive Mansion. Washington, July 1, 1862. Ordinance on the
enlistment of 300,000 recruits, New-York Daily Tribune, No. 6628, July 2,
1862. Ed.
228
Karl Marx
with such a cold response. New England and the Northwest, which
have provided the main body of the army, are determined to force
on the government a revolutionary kind of warfare and to inscribe
the battle-slogan of "Abolition of Slavery!" on the star-spangled
banner. Lincoln yields only hesitantly and uneasily to this pressure
from without, 3 but he knows that he cannot resist it for long.
Hence his urgent appeal to the border states to renounce the
institution of slavery voluntarily and under advantageous contractual conditions. He knows that only the continuance of slavery in
the border states has so far left slavery untouched in the South
and prohibited the North from applying its great radical remedy.
He errs only if he imagines that the "loyal" slaveholders are to be
moved by benevolent speeches and rational arguments. They will
yield only to force.
So far, we have only witnessed the first act of the Civil
Warthe constitutional waging of war. T h e second act, the
revolutionary waging of war, is at hand.
Meanwhile, during its first session Congress, now adjourned,
decreed a series of important measures that we shall briefly
summarise here.
Apart from its financial legislation, it passed the Homestead
Bill, which the Northern masses had long striven for in vain; in
accordance with this Bill, part of the state lands is given gratis to
the colonists, whether indigenous or new-comers, for cultivation. 238
It abolished slavery in Columbia and the national capital, with
monetary compensation for the former slaveholders. 239 Slavery was
declared "forever impossible" in all the Territories of the United
States.c The Act, under which the new State of West Virginia is
admitted into the Union, prescribes abolition of slavery by stages
and declares that all Negro children born after July 4, 1863, are
born free. T h e conditions of this emancipation by stages are on
the whole borrowed from the law that was enacted 70 years ago in
Pennsylvania for the same purpose. 240 By a fourth Act all the
slaves of rebels are to be emancipated, as soon as they fall into the
hands of the republican army. d Another law, which is now being
put into effect for the first time, provides that these emancipated
a
229
Negroes may be militarily organised and put into the field against
the South. The independence of the Negro republics of Liberia
and Haiti 241 has been recognised and, finally, a treaty on the
abolition of the slave trade has been concluded with Britain. 3
Thus, no matter how the dice may fall in the fortunes of war,
even now it can safely be said that Negro slavery will not long
outlive the Civil War.
Written in early August, 1862
First published in Die Presse, No. 218,
August 9, 1862
Printed
paper
a
"Treaty between the United States of America and Her Majesty the Queen of
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, for the Suppression of the
African Slave-Trade". Ed.
233
Karl Marx
ABOLITIONIST DEMONSTRATIONS
IN AMERICA 244
234
Karl Marx
sane man who valued his life or liberty. In reading the speech it is scarcely possible
to avoid coining to the conclusion that the speaker's object was to lorce the
government to prosecute h i m / ' 1
And The Firnes, in spite of, or perhaps because of, its hatred of
the Union government, appears not at all disinclined to assume
the role of public prosecutor!
In the present state of affairs Wendell Phillips' Abington speech
is of greater importance than a battle bulletin. We therefore
summarise its most striking passages.
"The government," he says among oilier things, "is fighting for the
preservation of slavery, and therefore it is lighting in vain. Lincoln is waging a
political war. Lven now he is more afraid of Kentucky than of the entire North. He
believes in the South. 1 he Negroes on the Southern battlefields, when asked
whether the rain of cannon-balls and bombs that tore up the earth all round and
split the trees asunder did no! (errifv them, answered: 'No, massa; we know that
the y are not meant loi us!' t h e rebels could speak of McClellan's bombs in the
same way. Thev know that lhe\ are no! meant for them, to cfo them harm. I do not
sa\ that McClellan ts a traitor; but I say lhat, if lie were a traitor, he would have
had to act exactly as he has done. Have no fear for Richmond; McClellan will not
take: it. If-the wai is continued in this fashion, without a rational aim, then it is a
useless squandering of blood and gold. It would be better were the South
independent toda\ than to ha/aid one more human life for a war based on the
present execrable policy. To continue the war in the fashion prevailing hitherto,
requites 125,000 men a year and a million dollars a clay. But you cannot get rid of
the South. As Jelferson said of slavery:
"The Southern states have the wolf bv the ears, but they can neither hold him
nor let him go." In the same way, we have the South by the ears and can neither
hold it nor let it go. Recognise it tomorrow and you will have no peace. For 80
years it has lived with us, in fear of us the whole time, with hatred for us half the
time, ever troubling and abusing us. Made presumptuous by a concession of its
present claims, it would not keep within an imaginary border-line a yearnay, the
moment that we speak of conditions of peace, it will cry victory! We shall never
have peace until slaven is uprooted. So long as you retain the present tortoise 1 ' at
the head of our government, you make a hole with one hand in order to fill it with
the other. Let the entire nation endorse the resolutions of the New York Chamber
of Commerce-' 1 ' 1 and then the army will have something for which it is worth while
fighting. Had Jefferson Davis the power, he would not capture Washington. He
knows that the bomb that fell in this Sodom would rouse the whole nation.
"The entire North would thunder with one voice! 'Down with slavery, down
with everything that stands in the way of saving the republic!' Jefferson Davis is
quite satisfied with his successes. They are greater than he anticipated, far greater!
If he can continue to swim on them till March 4, 1863, England will then, and this
is in order, recognise the Southern Confederacy.... The President has not put the
Confiscation Act' into effect. He may be honest, but what has his honesty to do
with the matter? He has neither insight nor foresight. When I was in Washington, I
;1
"New York, Aug. 8", The Times, No. 24331, August 22, 1862.Ed
An allusion to Abraham Lincoln. Ed.
' An Act to confiscate the property of Rebels for the payment of the expenses of the
present rebellion, and for other purposes [1S62].Ed.
b
235
ascertained that three months ago Lincoln had written the proclamation for
general emancipation of the slaves and that McClellan bullied him out of his
decision and that the representatives of Kentucky bullied him into the retention of
McClellan, in whom he places no confidence. It will take years for Lincoln to learn
to combine his legal scruples as an attorney with the demands of the Civil War.
This is the appalling state of a democratic government and its greatest evil.
"In France a hundred men, convinced of the righteousness of their cause,
would cart) the nation with them; but in order that our government may take a
step, 19 million people must previously put themselves in motion. And to how
many of these millions has it been preached for years that slavery is an institution
ordained by God! With these prejudices, with paralysed hands and hearts, vou
entieat the President to save you from the Negro! If this theory is correct, then
only slaveholding despotism can bring a temporal) peace.... I know Lincoln. I have
taken his measure in Washington. He is a first-rate second-rate man,'1 He waits
honestly, like a new broom, for the nation to take him in hand and sweep away
slavery through him.... In past years, not far Ironi the platform from which I now
speak, the Whigs- 1 7 fired small mortars in order to smother my voice. And what is
the resultr
"The sons of these Whigs now fill their own graves in the marshes of
Chickahominv ! - t s Dissolve this Union in Cod's name and replace it with another,
on the corner-stone of which is written: 'Political equality for all the citizens of the
world'... During my stay in Chicago I asked lawvers of Illinois, among whom
Lincoln had practised, what sort of man lie was. Whether he could say No. The
answer was: 'He lacks backbone. If the Americans wanted to elect a man absolutely
incapable of leadership, of initiative, then thev were bound to elect Abraham
Lincoln.... Never has a man heard him say No!' 1 asked: 'Is McClellan a man who
can say No?' The manager of the Chicago Central Railroad, on which McClellan
was employed, answered: 'He is incapable of making a decision. Put a question to
him and it lakes an hour for him to think of the answer. During the time that he
was connected with the administration of the Central Railroad, lie never decided a
single important controversial question."
"And these are the two men who, above all others, now hold the fate of the
Northern Republic in their hands! Those- best acquainted with the state of the armv
assure us that Richmond could have been taken five times, had the do-nothing at
the head of the army of the Potomac allowed it: but he preferred to dig up dirt in
the Chickahominv swamps, in order lo ignominious!) abandon the locality and his
dirt ramparts. Lincoln, out of a cowaidlv fear ol the border slave- states, keeps this
man in his present position; but the day will come when Lincoln will confess that
lie has never believed in McClellan.... Let us hope thai the wai lasts long enough to
make men of us, and then we shall soon triumph. God has put the thunderbolt of
emancipation into our hands in order to crush this rebellion..."
Written on August 22, 1862
First published in Die Presse, No. 239,
August 30, 1862
Printed
P-'P e r
according
to the news-
Marx gives the English phrase in biackets alter its German equivalent. Ed.
248
Karl Marx
COMMENTS ON T H E NORTH AMERICAN EVENTS
249
Karl Marx
250
Unique. F.d.
Juridical acts. Ed.
The rest. Ed.
251
Printed
paper
H
Marx presumably refers to Hegel's Vorlesungen ber die Aesthetik, Bd. I l l ,
Theil III, Abschnitt III, Kapitel III "Das Princip der Tragdie, Komdie und des
Drama". Ed.
b
On September 19, 1862. Ed.
c
Marx uses the English phrase and gives the German translation in
brackets. Ed.
d
Lincoln was born in Kentucky, a border state. Ed.
256
Karl Marx
T H E SITUATION IN NORTH AMERICA
London, November 4
General Bragg, who commands the Southern army in Kentuckythe other fighting forces of the South there are restricted to
guerilla bandson invading this border state issued a proclamation which throws considerable light on the latest combined moves
of the Confederacy. 3 Bragg's proclamation, addressed to the states
of the Northwest, presupposes his success in Kentucky as a matter
of course, and obviously reckons on the eventuality of a victorious
advance into Ohio, the central state of the North. In the first
place, he declares the readiness of the Confederacy to guarantee
freedom of navigation on the Mississippi and the Ohio. This
guarantee only makes sense the moment the slaveholders are in
possession of the border states. At Richmond, therefore, it was
assumed that the simultaneous invasions of Lee in Maryland and
Bragg in Kentucky would secure possession of the border states at
one sweep. Bragg then goes on to vindicate the South, which is
only fighting for its independence, but, for the rest, wants peace.
T h e real, characteristic point of the proclamation, however, is the
offer of a separate peace with the Northwestern states, the
invitation to them to secede from the Union and join the
Confederacy, since the economic interests of the Northwest and
the South coincide just as much as those of the Northwest and the
Northeast are inimically opposed. The following can be seen: No
sooner did the South fancy itself safely in possession of the border
states, than it officially boasted of its ulterior motive of reconstructing the Union but without the states of New England.
a
B. Bragg, "Address to the People of the Northwest...", September 26,
1862. Ed.
257
258
Karl Marx
bands, are annihilated, or they leave home and join the army or
the administration of the Confederacy. Hence the result: on the
one hand, a tremendous dwindling of the slave element in the
border states, where it had always to contend with the "encroachments" a of its competitor, free labour; on the other hand, removal
of the energetic section of the slaveholders and its white following.
Only a sediment of "moderate" slaveholders is left, who will soon
grasp greedily at the pile of money offered them by Washington
for the ledemption of their "black chattels", whose value will in
any case be lost as soon as the Southern market is closed to their
sale. Thus, the war itself brings about a solution by, in fact,
radically changing the form of society in the border states.
For the South the most favourable season for waging war is
over; for the North it is beginning, since the inland rivers are now
navigable once more and the combination of land and sea warfare
already attempted with so much success is again possible. The
North has used the interval to good advantage. "Ironclads", ten in
number, for the rivers of the West, are rapidly nearing
completion; to which must be added twice as many semi-armoured
vessels for shallow waters. In the East many new armoured vessels
have already left the yards, whilst others are still under the
hammer. All will be ready by January 1, 1863. Ericsson, the
inventor and builder of the Monitor}' is directing the building of
nine new ships after the same model. Four of them are already
"afloat".
On the Potomac, in Tennessee and Virginia, as well as at
different points in the South Norfolk, New Bern, Port Royal,
Pensacola and New Orleansthe army daily receives fresh
reinforcements. The first levy of 300,000 men, which Lincoln
announced in July, has been fully provided and is in part already
at the theatre of war. The second levy of 300,000 men for nine
months is gradually being raised. In some states conscription has
been replaced by voluntary enlistment; in none does it encounter
serious difficulties. Ignorance and hatred have decried conscription as an unheard-of occurrence in the history of the United
States. Nothing can be more mistaken. Large numbers of troops
were conscripted during the War of Independence 2 7 5 and the
second war.with England (1812-15),"''' indeed, even in sundry small
wars with the Indians, without this ever encountering opposition
worth mentioning.
' Marx uses the English word and gives the German translation in brackets.
Ed.
'' See this volume, p. 213. Ed.
259
Printed
paper
260
Karl Marx
SYMPTOMS OF DISINTEGRATION
IN T H E SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY
261
191134
262
Karl Marx
Confederate service, out of its own armouries and arsenals, 75,000 rifles and
muskets, 233 pieces of artillery and a magnificent arms factory. Its manpower
capable of bearing arms has been drained to the dregs in the service of the
Confederacy; it had to drive the enemy from its western frontier unaided, and is it
not a cause for indignation if the creatures of the Confederate government now
dare to make sport of it?"
263
Karl Marx
[THE ELECTION RESULTS
IN T H E NORTHERN STATES]
264
Karl Marx
265
Bonaparte's hankering to intervene 285 strengthens the Abolitionists' case "from abroad". T h e only danger lies in the retention of
such generals as McClellan, who are, apart from their incompetence, avowed pro-slavery men." a
Written on November 18, 1862
First published in Die Presse, No. 321,
November 23, 1862
Printed
paper
266
Karl Marx
T H E DISMISSAL OF McCLELLAN
267
268
Karl Marx
T h e Dismissal of McClellan
269
Printed
paper
BEE-HIVE NEWSPAPER.
A JOURNAL OF GENERAL INTELLIGENCE, ADVOCATING INDUSTRIAL INTERESTS
Karl Marx
T O ABRAHAM LINCOLN,
PRESIDENT OF T H E UNITED STATES
OF AMERICA 1 6
Sir,
We congratulate the American people upon your re-election by
a large majority.
If resistance to the Slave Power was the reserved watchword of
your first election, the triumphant warcry of your re-election is,
Death to Slavery.
From the commencement of the Titanic-American strife the
working men of Europe felt instinctively that the star-spangled
banner carried the destiny of their class. T h e contest for the
territories which opened the dire epopee, was it not to decide
whether the virgin soil of immense tracts should be wedded to the
labour of the emigrant, or prostituted by the tramp of the
slave-driver?
When an oligarchy of 300,000 slave-holders dared to inscribe,
for the first time in the annals of the world, "slavery" on the
banner of Armed Revolt; when on the very spots where hardly a
century ago the idea of one great Democratic Republic had first
sprung up, whence the first Declaration of the Rights of Man 17
was issued, and the first impulse given to the European revolution
of the 18th century; when on those very spots counter-revolution,
with systematic thoroughness, gloried in rescinding "the [...] ideas
entertained [...] at the time of the formation of the old
Constitution", and maintained "slavery to be a beneficent institution", indeed the only solution of the great problem of "the
relation of labour to capital", and cynically proclaimed property in
man "the cornerstone of the new edifice", 3 then the working
a
From the speech of A. Stephens, a leading Southern slave-holder, made in
Savannah on March 21, 1861. See report in the New-York Daily Tribune, No. 6215,
March 27, 1861. Ed.
20
Karl Marx
Men's
21
News,
a
The Bee-Hive Newspaper and The Miner and Workman's Advocate have here
"Nusperli, Schantzenbach, Smales, Cornelius". Ed.
b
The Bee-Hive Newspaper has here: "18, Greek Street, Soho". Ed.
525
526
Frederick Engels
527
For artillery, they must be worse off still; and equally so for
engineers. Both these are highly scientific arms, and require a
long and careful training in both officers and non-commissioned
officers, and certainly more training in the men too, than infantry
does. Artillery, moreover, is a more complicated arm than even
cavalry; you require guns, horses broken in for this kind of
driving, and two classes of trained mengunners and drivers;
you require, besides, numerous ammunition-waggons, and large
laboratories for the ammunition, forges, workshops, &c; the
whole provided with complicated machinery. T h e Federals 471 are
stated to have, altogether, 600 guns in the field; but how these
may be served, we can easily imagine, knowing that it is utterly
impossible to turn out 100 complete, well-appointed, and wellserved batteries out of nothing in six months.
But suppose, again, that all these difficulties had been overcome, and that the fighting portion of the two hostile sections of
Americans was in fair condition for their work, could they move
even then? Certainly not. An army must be fed; and a large army
in a comparatively thinly-populated country such as Virginia,
Kentucky, and Missouri, must be chiefly fed from magazines. Its
supply of ammunition has to be replenished; it must be followed
by gunsmiths, saddlers, joiners, and other artisans, to keep its
fighting tackle in good order. All these requisites shone by their
absence in America; they had to be organised out of almost
nothing; and we have no evidence whatever to show that even now
the commissariat and transport of either army has emerged from
babvhood.
America, both North and South, Federal and Confederate, had
no military organisation, so to speak. The army of the line was
totally inadequate, by its numbers, for service against any
respectable enemy; the militia was almost non-existent. The
former wars of the Union never put the military strength of the
country on its mettle; England, between 1812 and 1814, had not
many men to spare, and Mexico defended herself chiefly^ by the
merest rabble. 472 T h e fact is, from her geographical position,
America had no enemies who could anywhere attack her with
more than 30,000 or 40,000 regulars at the very worst; and to
such numbers the immense extent of the country would soon
prove a more formidable obstacle than any troops America could
bring against them; while her army was sufficient to form a
nucleus for some 100,000 volunteers, and to train them in
reasonable time. But when a civil war called forth more than a
million of fighting men, the whole system broke down, and
528
Frederick Engels
529
530
T H E WAR IN AMERICA
The real opening of the campaign in this war dates from the
advance of the Union forces in Kentucky. Not before Missouri and
Western Virginia had been finally reconquered did this advance
commence. The Secessionist 47 ' troops held three strong positionsentrenched campsin the State of Kentucky: Columbus,
on the Mississippi, on their left; Bowling Green, in the centre; Mill
Springs, on the Cumberland River, on their right. Their line thus
extended fully 250 miles as the crow flies. By road, the distance
certainly was 300 miles east and west. Such an extended line
precluded all possibility of these corps supporting each other, and
gave the Federal forces a chance of attacking each of them
separately with superior forces. There was no great risk in such a
course, as none of the three Secessionist corps were strong enough
to advance, even if unopposed, beyond the Ohio River. T h e great
mistake in the Secessionist position was the attempt to occupy
everything, and the consequent dissemination of the troops. One
strong central entrenched camp, destined to be the prepared
battle-field for a decisive action, and held by the main body, would
have defended Kentucky far more efficiently; for it must either
have attracted the main body of the Federals, or placed them in a
disadvantageous position if they attempted to march past it
without noticing this strong concentration of troops. As it was, the
Federals attempted to attack these three camps one after another,
and to manoeuvre their enemy out of them, so as to compel him
to fight in the open. This plan was completely in accordance with
the rules of military art, and it was executed with a vigour and
rapidity which deserves much commendation, as well as the
perfect success obtained. Towards the middle of January, a body
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works were not only constructed with much greater care, but,
besides, it was large enough to shelter the 20,000 men which held
it. On the first day of the attack, the gunboats silenced the fire of
the batteries facing the river and shelled the interior of the works,
while the land forces drove in the enemy's outposts and compelled
the main body to take shelter close under the guns of their works.
On the second day, the gunboats, having suffered severely the day
before, appear to have done little work, but the land forces had to
fight a long and sometimes severe battle with the columns of the
garrison, which tried to break through their right in order to keep
open the line of retreat towards Nashville. But a vigorous attack of
the Federal right upon the Secessionist left, and strong reinforcements sent to the Federal left, decided the victory in favour of the
assailants. Several outworks had been stormed; the garrison,
hemmed in within their inner lines of defence, without any
chances of retreat, and evidently not in a condition to resist an
assault next morning, surrendered on the third day unconditionally. General Floyd escaped on the evening of the second day, it is
said, with 5,000 men. It is not quite clear how that was possible;
the number is too large to have been stowed away on steamers
during the night; but still they may have successively crossed the
river, and escaped along its right bank. The whole of the artillery,
baggage, and stores, together with 13,300 prisoners, fell into the
hands of the Unionists; 1,000 more prisoners were made next day,
and on the appearance of the Federal advanced guard, Clarksville,
a town higher up the river, surrendered with great quantities of
stores, collected there for the Secessionist troops.
Whether Nashville has also fallen, appears very uncertain, and
we can scarcely believe it. As it is, these successes of the Federals, in
the short space of three weeks, are quite enough for them to be
satisfied with. Columbus, the only place the Secessionists now hold
in Kentucky, they can continue to hold at very great risks only. If
they lose a decisive battle in Tennessee, the garrison of Columbus
cannot escape being compelled to surrender, unless the Federals
commit very great blunders. And that the Confederates are now
compelled to fight a decisive battle in Tennessee, is one of the
great results of the Federal victories. They have concentrated, we
are told, 65,000 men at and about Nashville; it may be that they
have succeeded in collecting even a larger force. But the combined
troops of Halleck, Grant, Buell, and Thomas, together with the
reserve now hurrying up from the camps of instruction in
Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, will enable the Federals to
outnumber them; and with their morale necessarily much raised
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